The DeVos family was misled by Theanos founder before investing $ 100 million, according to a rep.
The family office of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was given false and misleading information before investing $ 100 billion in Theranos, its founder and former CEO accused of fraudulently investing investors and patients in the company’s blood test technology, a representative of RDV Corp. The office investment unit, it said.
Lisa Peterson, who oversees private investment in the office, testified on Tuesday that she had been instructed to head to Theanos after one of her managers sent an email saying she had just “had the best meeting I could ever remember” with the company. founder Elizabeth Holmes.
Peterson told the court he had reviewed a letter containing Theanos ‘information and that the investment office had visited the company’s laboratory where DeVos’ sister Cheri DeVos had a blood test. Peterson was not sure if Cheri DeVos had ever received her test results, she testified.
According to Peterson, RDV Corp., which manages the $ 1 billion DeVos group’s new fortune, was shocked after Holmes claimed that Theanos’ belongings were used in military helicopters and pharmaceutical companies. The government’s lawsuit against Holmes claims that the allegations are part of a conspiracy to defraud investors.
Recent Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., On Feb. 22, 2018.Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / LightRocket with Getty Images file
They were also made to believe that the instruments could measure up to 300 blood and that all tests were performed on company equipment and not on third-party equipment.
The DeVos family office initially said it would invest $ 50 million, but doubled after meeting Holmes, according to Tuesday’s report. Peterson told the court that Holmes’ alleged false claims led them to believe “this would change health care.”
The DeVos family fortune began with the establishment of the Amway family members, a multi-level advertising company, in 1959.
The judges, for the first time, were also shown Holmes clips in television interviews from 2015 and 2016 as he tried to protect Theanos. “This is what happens when you work to change things,” he said in a 2015 CNBC “Mad Money” interview. “First they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then suddenly you change the world.”
In another clip, Holmes told Maria Shriver in a 2016 “TODAY” program interview that as the founder and CEO of Theranos, “anything that happens in this company is my responsibility.” The success of the Holmes defense team now lies in trying to counter that assertion.
Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford University, was 19 years old when he founded Thelanos in 2003 and sold the company’s blood test capabilities as a modification, saying he could use a faster one-finger test battery.
