Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her ex-boyfriend and ex-business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani exchanged love and sometimes paranoid texts as they tried to address issues with their startup’s blood test devices. , as shown by recently posted messages.
“I really want to be at home so badly. I feel like me [sic] living another life, ”Balwani, then president of the Silicon Valley startup, wrote in November 2013 while visiting her mother at the hospital.
“I know,” replied Holmes. “So weird he doesn’t come home.”
According to a sample presented Tuesday in the ongoing Holmes cable fraud process in San Jose, California, Balwani later added: “We need to control the business. And they are missing. “
“You’re missing more,” Holmes replied.
Holmes, 37, and Balwani, 56, are accused of defrauding patients and investors in a multi-million dollar scheme related to their portable blood labs, which they said could detect hundreds of diseases with just one said blood. But prosecutors say they advertised their machines and installed them in Walgreens stores even though they knew the technology was defective and provided inaccurate results.
The former couple has pleaded guilty to multiple crimes of cable fraud and conspiracy to commit cable fraud. Balwani, who was Holmes ’deputy and whom former employees called tyrants, is expected to be tried early next year.
While prosecutors have appeared in court since last week a bunch of seemingly romantic texts, Holmes has also accused Balwani of physical and emotional abuse. Balwani’s lawyers, in recently unsealed files, indicated that Holmes has considered declaring as part of his defense that Balwani controlled her and decimated “her ability to make decisions.”
According to text messages filed in court in October 2014, Balwani advised Holmes, “Be careful what you say. They will steal ideas.” While it is unclear who Balwani was referring to, he added an hour later: “Change your energy please.”
“You’re a desert breeze for me … My water. And the ocean. … I wanted to be alone tiger together.”
– Elizabeth Holmes
The cache also includes a message from Holmes’ mother, Noel, who thanked the couple and Elizabeth’s brother Chris for their hospitality during a trip to Palo Alto. “It was wonderful to be together,” Noel wrote, “and thank you for taking us to our favorite restaurant twice!”
Noel Holmes seems to suggest that Elizabeth became a tech celebrity. “Obviously you know you frequent it, which is why Sheryl and Mark show up suddenly,” Noel wrote on the text string.
“I meant Marissa, not Sheryl,” the mother added, perhaps referring to former Yahoo director Marissa Mayer.
The following month, Balwani discussed problems with Theranos’ customer service and lab and a lab manager was “exhausted.” Balwani sent a text message to Holmes: “Basically we have to stop fighting fires without creating them.”
He later described the Theranos lab, codenamed “Normandy” and where the startup’s proprietary devices were kept, as “a shitty disaster zone.” “I’m glad to come here,” Balwani wrote. “We will work to fix it.”
Throughout his exchanges, however, Holmes referred to Balwani as “my tiger” and “my king” in his own messages.
She was even poetic about her love for Balwani in messages posted last week.
“You’re a desert breeze for me,” Holmes wrote in May 2015. “My water. And ocean. … I wanted to be alone together tiger.”
“Lost in love with you and your strength,” she added.
About 15 minutes later, Balwani replied, “I’m tired today. Spending so much time on nonsense and no time on programs or things that build our product. “
The next day, the couple was busy identifying employees they believed had revealed “trade secrets” and seized the Wall Street Journal. They discussed suing Rochelle Gibbons, the widow of startup chief scientist Ian Gibbons, for defamation and sending a legal letter to an alleged loser named “Tyler.” The latter was allegedly Tyler Shultz, a key complainant in the Theranos scandal and grandson of former Secretary of State and board member George Shultz, who was a tireless supporter of Holmes.
“Out of al [sic] challenges are great opportunities, ”Holmes wrote to Balwani.
“Absolutely. This is quite easy to move forward, ”Balwani replied.
In some exchanges, Balwani seemed to be quite a business despite Holmes ’starry-eyed openings.
In June 2015, Balwani sent a text message to Holmes: “You are missing.”
“Me more,” he replied, adding, “I was thinking of you this morning.”
“We need to stay focused and vigilant,” Balwani replied. “We are lazy, disorganized and not focused.”
“Tonight is Friday night,” Holmes wrote. “I’ve been thinking the same things you know. I was sending it in the context of you and me ”.
“Even in the context of you and us we have to stay focused by dying on the day,” Balwani said, before correcting his kind of mistake, “During.”