The trial against former Theranos Chief Operating Officer Sunny Balwani continued Friday with two strategies on display -- one trying to portray him as an active manager and the other as a wealthy observer.
While Balwani's defense team tried to convince the jury that CEO Elizabeth Holmes and a team of scientists called the shots at the company, the prosecution has brought multiple lab directors to the stand to say that Balwani was actually an active manager.
On Friday, Doctor Adam Rosendorff told the jury that Balwani was involved in the day-to-day workings of the Theranos lab, bolstering the prosecution’s claim that he was active in what happened at the now-failed Palo Alto medical device company.
“It's having every one of the witnesses together be part of the foundation of painting the picture that, yes, Elizabeth Holmes was theCEO, and ultimately she was involved in the decision-making, but when it came to daily operations, it was Sunny Bawani, who wasn't just an investor, but was the OPS guy,” said aid Aron Solomon, legal analyst with Esquire Digital.
The Balwani defense wanted to tell the jury that another lab Doctor Rosendorff worked for, San Francisco-based uBiome, which sat down as the SEC sued its founders, but the judge did not allow it so they only heard of Theranos.
"Every lab director, everybody who is able to get on the stand and speak to how much control Sunny Balwani had over the operations, it becomes a cumulative thing,” said Solomon. “These witnesses represent building blocks in the case against Sunny Balwani.”
Doctor Rosendorff will be back on the stand next week. He's likely to be followed by patients testifying that they got inaccurate results from Theranos blood testing machines.
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