Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of Theranos Center, leaves the U.S. federal court in San Jose, California on May 6, 2021.
Nina Riggio | Bloomberg | Getty Images
He was the father of newborn twins who wanted to change their health.
Now, with Elizabeth Holmes ’criminal fraud trial set to begin on Tuesday, Micah Nies is tired of“ being silenced ”and breaks her silence.
Nies is one of four former Theranos employees interviewed by CNBC before Holmes’ trial. The others, who did not want their names to be used, say they are still afraid of the pay of Holmes and former Theranos president Sunny Balwani.
“The fear is real,” Nies said. “Even several years later. The atmosphere was so toxic that you heard stories of people’s disappearance. There was always this fear of retribution and then you take it with you.”
Micah Nies, a former Theranos employee, with her twin children.
Micah People
Holmes and Balwani have pleaded guilty to a dozen counts of fraud and conspiracy. Balwani’s trial will not take place until next year. Holmes and Balwani’s attorneys did not return requests for comment.
Nies was hired at Theranos in March 2015 for $ 185,000 a year to be the senior manager of customer service and call center operations at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, according to a letter from acceptance that he shared with CNBC. Theranos recruited him at the age of 41 from another San Diego healthcare company.
He reported directly to Balwani, whom he called “the manipulative king.” His job was to solve problems, but he said he soon realized the real problem was Theranos himself.
“There was always something fishy or quirky,” Nies said. “It was very clear that they were trying to hide something. Every morning I woke up and wondered what they were going to spin today, while I was trying to find my exit strategy.”
Another employee who worked at Theranos, who quit smoking after it became clear the company was what she calls a “letter house,” asked not to be named for fear of Holmes and Balwani retaliating.
Reflecting on the upcoming trial, which has been repeatedly delayed, the former employee says she feels “sad to witness an epic failure of due diligence by so many people, but it is also very predictable.”
When asked what he would say to Holmes today, he said, “You don’t have a relationship with someone who deals with reality. So the point of having a conversation starts to diminish in front of someone who only sees things the way they want them to be. the world . “
Former employees interviewed by CNBC said they left the company disappointed and dismayed by what happened, but that they do not want their career to be defined by this ordeal. They all came to Theranos with different perspectives, but looking back they say their views are clear on what happened inside the company.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them became ‘War of the Roses,'” Nies said, referring to the 1989 film in which a married couple struggles with a nasty divorce. sense of money and has a life to look forward to now that he is trying to recreate himself. The recipe is there for a game of guilt. “
It is unknown if Holmes will position himself in his own defense. Former employees said damage control was routine at Theranos and they all agreed that Holmes is innately optimistic.
“In that she was good,” Nies said. “We would get bad news and the next day I would have a town hall and everyone’s eyes would be glazed. She’s very charismatic in the sense that she knows how to talk to people.”
And that charisma was publicly shown in 2015 on CNBC’s “Mad Money”. The day after the Wall Street Journal published an explosive report on Theranos blood testing technology that was not working as advertised, Holmes appeared on the show to defend his company.
“That’s what happens when you work to change things,” Holmes told host Jim Cramer. “First they think you’re crazy, then they fight with you, then you change the world.”
Nies, who left Theranos a year later, keeps in touch with some of her former classmates. He says “they just want to put him in the rearview mirror. We hope they find her guilty, Sunny too, and we all continue. But many of us are skeptical, as she will be part of this elite group.”
Another high-ranking employee, who asked not to be named because he may be called to testify as a witness, said he felt “it has taken a long time, we hoped this would be done sooner. we worked there anxiously for it to end. “
And a former Theranos executive who was close to Holmes told CNBC: “It didn’t have to end that way. I could have chosen any number of open spaces and changed the trajectory of the company. But, like the movie Speed, it would. never take your foot off the gas pedal. “
The long-awaited trial, which will be one of the most watched cases of financial fraud in recent history, is once again provoking a lot of emotions for those who also believed it could make a difference.
“There’s definitely an unsaid bond between everyone, we’ve been through it together,” Nies said. “Those of us who left Theranos before everything collapsed, now we’re on the other side with good careers. It’s cathartic to talk about it.”