MICHAEL LIEDTKE | AP News

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes requested a new trial Tuesday, asserting in a court filing that a key witness for the prosecution now regrets the role he played in her conviction for investor fraud and conspiracy related to her failed blood-testing startup.

The petition centers on the reliability of testimony provided by former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff, who said he repeatedly raised concerns about the accuracy of bloods tests that were being administered to patients during his tenure in 2013 and 2014.

Prosecutors highlighted Rosendorff’s testimony during their closing arguments to a jury that convicted Holme s on four felony counts of investor fraud and conspiracy earlier this year after a nearly four-month trial. The same jury acquitted Holmes on charges of fraud and conspiracy against patients who had their blood tested by Theranos.

Rosendorff, reached via LinkedIn, said he had no comment, adding “Do not contact me.”

Holmes, 38, is currently free on bail, but is facing up to 20 years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 17 in San Jose, California.

Her lawyers argued in a 17-page filing that Rosendorff is now expressing misgivings about his testimony, based on recent actions described in the court document.

The filing states that Rosendorff appeared at the home Holmes shares with her partner, William Evans, on the evening of August 8 in an attempt to meet with her. Evans intercepted Rosendorff, according to the document, and asked him to leave.

Before departing, according to the filing, Rosendorff told Evans that during his trial testimony “he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everyone look bad” and now feels like “he had done something wrong.” Before he appeared at Holmes’ residence, the document said, Rosendorff left a 30-second voicemail for one of her lawyers asking for a face-to-face meeting with Holmes because he thought it could be “quite healing” for both of them.

In their filing, Holmes lawyers said they had not been able to ask Rosendorff for further information about his reflections on his trial testimony for ethical reasons. The lawyers proposed an Oct. 3 hearing to discuss why they believe Rosendorff’s recent actions merit a new trial.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila formally rejected a request to set aside the jury’s verdicts in Holmes’ trial. Davila’s decision cited Rosendorff’s testimony in support of his ruling.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Elizabeth Holmes seeks new trial, cites key witness’ regrets appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge refused to throw out Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction Friday, despite a juror’s failure to disclose before the trial began that he’d been a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in December of helping the millionaire Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse several teenage girls.

U.S. Judge Alison J. Nathan declined to order a new trial weeks after questioning the juror under oath in a New York courtroom about why he failed to disclose his personal history as an abuse survivor on a questionnaire during the jury selection process.

The juror had said he “skimmed way too fast” through the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the wrong answer to a question about sex abuse.

“I didn’t lie in order to get on this jury,” he said.

In an opinion certain to trigger a higher court appeal, Nathan said the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.

The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair and impartial juror.”

Had the juror answered the questions correctly, Maxwell’s lawyers had said they potentially could have objected to the man’s presence on the jury on the grounds that he might not be fair to a person accused of a similar crime.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined comment Friday. Messages were left with Maxwell’s attorneys.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges after a monthlong trial that featured testimony from four women who said she played a role in setting them up for abuse by Epstein.

Epstein killed himself in August 2019 as he awaited trial at a federal jail in New York on related sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell says she’s innocent.

After the trial’s conclusion, the juror, identified in court papers only as Juror No. 50, gave interviews with several media outlets describing deliberations, and disclosing that he’d been abused as a child. He said he persuaded some fellow jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of abuse doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Potential jurors in the case had been were required to fill out a 50-page questionnaire including a question that asked: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”

The juror checked “No.”

The juror said in one of the interviews that he didn’t remember being asked that question, which was No. 48 on the form.

Defense lawyers for Maxwell asked the judge to immediately order a new trial, but she said she could not do so without questioning the juror.

After Nathan questioned the juror in early March, lawyers on both sides submitted written arguments. Prosecutors said the juror made an “honest mistake” and that it was “crystal clear” that Maxwell received a fair trial.

Maxwell’s lawyers disagreed.

“Excusing Juror 50’s false answers because he believes his concealed history of sexual abuse did not affect his ability to serve as a fair and impartial juror does not satisfy the appearance of justice,” they argued. “Only a new trial would.”

But Nathan rejected that reasoning, writing that the juror’s claims that he remained impartial toward Maxwell rang true.

When questioned about it, he answered “frankly and honestly, even when the answers he gave were the cause of personal embarrassment and regret,” she said. “His tone, demeanor and responsiveness gave no indication of false testimony.”

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Judge upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.