Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Theranos trial: Holmes testifies she was abused by ex-partner Balwani

Theranos trial: Holmes testifies she was abused by ex-partner Balwani

THERANOS founder Elizabeth Holmes testified that she was abused by her former romantic partner and Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani and that the relationship had a pervasive impact on her life during the time when she is accused of committing fraud.

During her fourth day on the stand, Holmes, 37, occasionally choked up as she spoke about her decade-long relationship with Balwani, Theranos' chief operating officer, whom she met when she was 18 and he was 38.


Throughout the relationship, Holmes said, Balwani forced her to have sex when she did not want to, and was verbally abusive.

Balwani has "categorically" denied the allegations in court filings, calling them "false and inflammatory." An attorney for Balwani did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Both Holmes and Balwani have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges for allegedly lying about the now-defunct startup's technology that supposedly could run diagnostic tests more quickly and accurately than traditional lab testing.

Prosecutors say Holmes turned to fraud after pharmaceutical companies lost interest in the Theranos technology. Her attorneys portray Holmes as a young, hardworking entrepreneur whose company failed, and, they suggested on Monday, who relied on Balwani to her detriment.

Holmes had previously testified that she left Stanford University at 19 to focus on building Theranos. On Monday, she explained that she left in part because she had been raped while at Stanford.

At that point, she decided to focus on building her company, and at the same time grew closer with Balwani, who she looked up to as a successful businessman who had worked with Bill Gates.

"He said that I was safe, now that I had met him," she said.

But, at the home they shared and in texts, Balwani told her she would never succeed if she did not "kill the old Elizabeth" by following an intense regime including waking at 4 am, eating certain foods and remaining laser-focused on her goals, she said.

Once valued at $9 billion, Theranos vaulted Holmes to Silicon Valley stardom. Theranos collapsed after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles starting in 2015 that suggested its devices were flawed and inaccurate. She was indicted in 2018.

Holmes testified last week that Balwani prepared financial projections that were shared with investors. On Monday, Holmes spoke for around an hour about their personal relationship.

Holmes said she is not claiming that Balwani controlled her statements to investors, journalists or business partners. But she said she didn't question him as she should have, because he had taught her "everything I thought I knew about business."

"He impacted everything about who I was. And I don't fully understand that," she said.

A healthcare regulator's negative report in 2016 shook her positive view of Theranos, and prompted her to make changes that Balwani did not like, Holmes testified. They broke up that year, she said.

Since the trial began in September, jurors in San Jose have heard evidence that prosecutors say proves Holmes defrauded investors between 2010 and 2015 and deceived patients once Theranos began making its tests commercially available, including through a partnership with Walgreens.

At the end of her direct testimony, Holmes' lawyer, Kevin Downey, asked why she never sold any of her 50 per cent stake in Theranos, which was worth $4.5bn, despite opportunities to do so.

"I believed in the company and I wanted to put everything I had into it," she said.

Holmes is scheduled to face cross-examination by a prosecutor on Tuesday (30) when the trial resumes.

(Reuters)

More For You

Baiju Bhatt

At 40, Bhatt is the only person of Indian origin in this group, which includes figures such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. (Photo: Getty Images)

Baiju Bhatt named among youngest billionaires in US by Forbes

INDIAN-AMERICAN entrepreneur Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of the commission-free trading platform Robinhood, has been named among the 10 youngest billionaires in the United States in the 2025 Forbes 400 list.

At 40, Bhatt is the only person of Indian origin in this group, which includes figures such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Forbes estimates his net worth at around USD 6–7 billion (£4.4–5.1 billion), primarily from his roughly 6 per cent ownership in Robinhood.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mandelson-Getty

Starmer dismissed Mandelson on Thursday after reading emails published by Bloomberg in which Mandelson defended Jeffrey Epstein following his 2008 conviction. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Minister says Mandelson should never have been appointed

A CABINET minister has said Peter Mandelson should not have been made UK ambassador to the US, as criticism mounted over prime minister Keir Starmer’s judgment in appointing him.

Douglas Alexander, the Scotland secretary, told the BBC that Mandelson’s appointment was seen as “high-risk, high-reward” but that newly revealed emails changed the situation.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

We are living faster than ever before

AMG

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

Shiveena Haque

Finding romance today feels like trying to align stars in a night sky that refuses to stay still

When was the last time you stumbled into a conversation that made your heart skip? Or exchanged a sweet beginning to a love story - organically, without the buffer of screens, swipes, or curated profiles? In 2025, those moments feel rarer, swallowed up by the quickening pace of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

Shabana Mahmood, US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, Canada’s public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree, Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke and New Zealand’s attorney general Judith Collins at the Five Eyes security alliance summit on Monday (8)

Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer’s government is not working. That is the public verdict, one year in. So, he used his deputy Angela Rayner’s resignation to hit the reset button.

It signals a shift in his own theory of change. Starmer wanted his mission-led government to avoid frequent shuffles of his pack, so that ministers knew their briefs. Such a dramatic reshuffle shows that the prime minister has had enough of subject expertise for now, gambling instead that fresh eyes may bring bold new energy to intractable challenges on welfare and asylum.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nepal-unrest-Getty

Army personnel patrol outside Nepal's President House during a curfew imposed to restore law and order in Kathmandu on September 12, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Nepal searches for new leader after 51 killed in protests

Highlights:

  • Nepal’s president and army in talks to find an interim leader after deadly protests
  • At least 51 killed, the deadliest unrest since the end of the Maoist civil war
  • Curfew imposed in Kathmandu, army patrols continue
  • Gen Z protest leaders demand parliament’s dissolution

NEPAL’s president and army moved on Friday to find a consensus interim leader after anti-corruption protests forced the government out and parliament was set on fire.

Keep ReadingShow less