Day 40 - November 30, 2021

Before the jury entered, the court questioned whether the defense had established the requirements for admitting excerpts from Ramesh Balwani's SEC deposition and directed the parties to address completeness issues. In a separate evidentiary discussion, the court permitted the prosecution to test Holmes's testimony about her agency and relationship with Balwani but identified extravagant expenses as the boundary for lifestyle evidence and required the government to explain the purpose of particular exhibits. On cross-examination, Holmes acknowledged that Theranos was deeply concerned about John Carreyrou's reporting, regretted its treatment of Erika Cheung, and accepted responsibility for mishandling the Wall Street Journal response. She also confirmed her authority as founder, chief executive, majority voting shareholder, and Balwani's supervisor. Holmes testified that the MiniLab and 4 Series were never used for patient testing, that the Edison 3.5 ran 12 California laboratory assays, and that most of the broader menu used commercial equipment. She further acknowledged applying pharmaceutical-company logos to Theranos-prepared reports and sending altered reports outside the company. Financial records showed pressure from an $18.5 million refund and new investment proceeds shortly before the Walgreens launch, though Holmes disputed that Theranos was almost out of money. The court later found Balwani unavailable to testify after his attorney represented that he would invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to substantive questions. It excluded Exhibit C as cumulative under Rule 403, deferred a final ruling on the financial-model deposition excerpts while indicating that only some would probably be admitted, and admitted Defense Exhibit 14259. The court also set deadlines for updated jury instructions and a preliminary charging-conference discussion.