Bad Blood: A jury in San Jose, California yesterday found Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the Theranos blood testing company, guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, each carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

  The jury deadlocked on three counts of wire fraud and found Holmes not guilty on four counts of defrauding patients.

  Holmes had claimed that she was developing technology to do multiple tests for a variety of conditions from a single drop of blood. The prosecution argued that she and her ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, overhyped the abilities of their technology, thereby defrauding investors.

  Holmes testified in her defense that Balwani was abusive, controlling and that, “He impacted everything about who I was, and I don’t fully understand that.” 

  The case has been seen as a challenge to the inventors and investors in Silicon Valley. The entrepreneurs always hype their product, and investors gamble that it will succeed. In their decision, the jury decided Holmes was the one who went too far.

Viral News: The US registered more than 486,000 new cases of the coronavirus yesterday, a daily rate that’s up 239 percent over the past two weeks.

  This morning, nearly 828,000 Americans are dead of Covid-19

  With the Omicron variant surging, some school systems are going to remote learning again, including Newark, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. In all, more than 450,000 children will have to stay home.

  Vaccine resistance and legal arguments continue. A federal judge yesterday granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Defense from taking “any adverse action” against 35 members of the Navy who refused vaccination, claiming that it violates their religious freedoms.

Prince Charmed: Britain’s Prince Andrew appears to have caught a big break in the lawsuit brought against him by one of the women recruited as a teenager into the sex trafficking operation of the late millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

  The court unsealed a $500,000 civil settlement Virginia Giuffre reached with Epstein that prevents her from suing other people in the Epstein sex circle. 

  Referring to Giuffre by her maiden name, the settlement agrees to “remise, release, acquit, satisfy and forever discharge the said second parties and any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant … from all, and all manner of, action and actions of Virginia Roberts, including state or federal, cause and causes of action”.

  The settlement doesn’t refer to Andrew, or the celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz, also accused by Giuffre of sexual misconduct. But there’s a photo of Andy with the teenage Roberts, who wasn’t there for brilliant conversation.

  Andrew’s lawyers said in a filing last October that, “To avoid being dragged into future legal disputes, Epstein negotiated for this broad release.” They went on to say, “Because Prince Andrew is a senior member of the British royal family, he falls into one of the expressly identified categories of persons, ie, royalty, released from liability under the release agreement, along with politicians, academicians, businessmen and others allegedly associated with Epstein.”

  Regardless of the outcome of this case, Andrew has been reduced to zero in royal rank. He’s been barred from representing the family at official events and he’s not even allowed to be in photographs with his mother, the queen.

The Trump Business: Former President Donald Trump’s kids Ivanka and Don Jr. have been called to give depositions in a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general accusing the Trump companies of lying about the value of their properties to ether get loans or avoid taxes.

  Eric Trump, who runs the company now with Junior, has already been questioned. Don and Ivanka are fighting the subpoena.

  Also in the Trump lawsuit department, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is suing the then president and former Attorney General Bill Barr claiming they revoked his home confinement during the pandemic in retaliation for a tell-all book he was writing about Trump. When Barr was served with papers Cohen gleefully tweeted, “Happy New Year Asshole.”

The Spin Rack: Three people were killed Monday last night in Montgomery County, Maryland when a car collided with a snowplow after snow fell all along the mid-Atlantic coast. The storm also brought transportation slowdowns, flight cancellations, and school closures. — The Texas Department of State Health Services added 36 victims to arrive at a final count of 246 people who died in last February’s brutal storm. The dead ranging in age from one year old to 102 died in 77 of the state’s 254 counties. — Apple has become the first company in corporate history to hit $3 trillion Market Value. The maker of iPhones, watches, and laptops has tripled in value since 2018.

Made for Each Other: Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle are engaged to get married.  She said on Instagram, “Don, you are strong, smart, courageous, funny and the love of my life. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.”

  It might have to be separate jail cells. 

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