Meanwhile, Peterson testified that the DeVos family office was concerned that if their investigation into Theranos was too thorough, the firm would rescind the invitation to invest in what was billed as a groundbreaking technology. That press release mentioned Theranos would use “traditional” blood draws alongside its own finger stick tests, Wade said. When Wade asked whether Peterson had ever visited Theranos’ Walgreens clinics or read Theranos’ 2013 press release on this collaboration with the pharmacy chain, she answered no. The defense lawyer also pointed out Peterson’s memo appeared to include sentences lifted from a Fortune magazine article about Holmes. Wade questioned Peterson on whether the DeVoses read the memos she had prepared on Theranos before they decided to invest, and Peterson said she didn’t know.
(Tubergen is also a potential witness on the government's list.)ĭuring cross examination, Holmes’ attorney Lance Wade impugned Peterson’s due diligence in researching Theranos before recommending the company to the DeVos family. Peterson told the court that she volunteered to work on the Theranos deal after learning about the firm from RDV Corporation’s CEO Jerry Tubergen, who met Holmes and her brother Christian.
Peterson testified that Theranos had “downplayed” the media reports.
Peterson said Holmes only referred to the risk of Theranos accomplishing its rollout of kiosks in Walgreens pharmacy locations.Īfter Carreyrou’s Wall Street Journal reports raised questions about Theranos’ technology, Peterson and estate attorney Dan Mosley-another investor who lost $6 million in the biotech firm-discussed the bad press with Holmes and Theranos staff. When Holmes discussed potential risks with RDV, Peterson added, the tech wunderkind didn’t mention any issues with Theranos’ technology or disclose that the firm was using third-party machines for its blood tests. (Last week, Pfizer scientist Shane Weber testified that he recommended the corporation decline a partnership with Theranos in 2008, and that the startup used Pfizer’s logo without permission.) Theranos also provided a copy of a study with Pfizer’s logo, which suggested the pharma giant approved of the devices, Peterson added. Peterson said Theranos provided materials to RDV that indicated 10 of the 15 largest pharmaceutical companies had “comprehensively validated” the startup over a seven-year period and falsely claimed the devices could run up to 300 blood tests on its own machines. On Tuesday, Peterson testified that she and her bosses were impressed by Theranos’ revenue projections of $140 million in 2014 and $990 million in 2015, and that she didn’t realize the firm had zero income in 20. Jim Mattis, former Walgreens CFO Wade Miquelon, ex-Safeway chief executive Steven Burd, and former employees including Theranos’ onetime lab director Adam Rosendorff, who was a key whistleblower for investigative reporter John Carreyrou’s bombshell stories on the startup. Peterson took the stand during the eighth week of Holmes’ criminal trial, which has thus far heard testimony from Marine Gen.
As former Theranos project manager Daniel Edlin testified last week, the tech unicorn also wooed media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who invested $125 million. The DeVoses were just one prominent investor in the now-defunct blood-testing company. (On Tuesday, the defense presented an email from Peterson that said RDV Corporation, with the blessing of siblings Doug and Cheri DeVos, had agreed to give Theranos $100 million “on the spot.”) Shortly after this meeting, Peterson and DeVos family members gathered in the Theranos parking lot to discuss their planned $50 million investment, which they ultimately doubled, the Wall Street Journal reported. “To my knowledge, she received the results,” Peterson testified, adding that she didn’t personally review the lab work, according to courtroom press reports. In October 2014, the DeVos family visited Theranos headquarters for an almost five-hour huddle which included Betsy’s sister-in-law Cheri DeVos getting a finger stick test.