Where will Elizabeth Holmes serve her sentence, whatever it is? A story that got lost in the Thanksgiving shuffle was Bloomberg News’ (paywalled) report that Judge Edward Davila recommended that she be remanded to a minimum security Federal women’s prison in Bryan, Texas, outside of Houston. What has previously been mentioned in the press and by legal commentators is that she would likely serve her time in a northern California minimum security prison about an hour from her present home, the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California. According to commentators, the larger Bryan facility may be better than Dublin, which is a satellite camp. Bryan  “…compared to other places in the prison system, this place is heaven. If you have to go it’s a good place to go,” Alan Ellis, a criminal defense lawyer, told Bloomberg. The final say will be made by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The selection is important because Federal inmates typically serve a minimum of 85% of their time, unlike time served in state prisons. Gizmodo reports on Bloomberg’s reveal

Holmes’ reporting to prison is scheduled for 27 April 2023. Her appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals must be filed within two weeks of sentencing, which by this Editor’s calendar is 2 December but may be later due to the holiday. Holmes may be permitted to stay out of custody pending appeal if it extends beyond the surrender date if the judge permits. 

Editor’s commentary: One wonders whether Holmes’ appeal will be successful. One factor is what Judge Davila acknowledged: “What is the pathology of fraud? Is it the inability to accept responsibility?” Even in her personal statement during the sentencing, there is evasion. Holmes did admit some sorrow about patients and investors relating to her own failings (back to her again), but sorrow is not responsibility. Moreover, Holmes did not refer to making amends for that sorrow created by the Fraud That Was Theranos. Her defense continues to blame others, like Sunny Balwani, former president and live-in. Even the 130 character letters, many from others who knew her only briefly, blamed others including Balwani, almost tracking to the defense’s talking points. The case proved conspiracy with Balwani, who will likely be sentenced on 7 December for what is expected to be something close to the full 20 years as convicted on all 12 counts.

The tables are turned by Cerebral on co-founder/former CEO Kyle Robertson. Only a week or so ago, Robertson (through his attorneys) reportedly sent a letter to Cerebral management demanding access to documents detailing “possible breaches of fiduciary duty, mismanagement and other violations of law.” [TTA 18 Nov] Now Cerebral is suing Robertson for his default on a $49.8 million loan taken this past January to buy 1.06 million shares of common stock in the company. According to the filing in New York Supreme Court, he is personally liable for $25.4 million, plus interest and attorney’s fees. After his dismissal 18 May, he had six months to repay the loan or direct Cerebral to repurchase or cancel the shares. According to the lawsuit, “Robertson repeatedly asserted that he would not repay the loan.” The troubled company laid off 400 or more in October and is now valued at a fraction of last year’s $4.8 billion valuation.  Stay tuned. HealthcareDive, Mobihealthnews

A cracked SPAC may get itself sold. Talkspace, which has had a year of challenges since its SPAC, apparently is in talks to be acquired by Amwell. According to Calcalist, an Israeli business publication, Amwell is in advanced talks to acquire it for $1.50 per share, or about $200 million. This is quite a comedown from when Talkspace was valued in January 2021 at $1.4 billion. It executed its SPAC in June [TTA 25 June 2021] and hit Nasdaq at $8.90 per share. Today it closed at $0.88, so Amwell’s offer would be close to double. It would also remove another problem. Nasdaq notified Talkspace on 18 November that they were on the verge of delisting their stock, as it was trading for over 30 consecutive business days at under $1.00 per share.

The ‘advanced’ term is interesting because this past June, reports indicated that Talkspace rejected overtures by Amwell and Mindpath. The amount bandied about at that time was $500 million and a sale was expected during the summer. (What a difference six months of economic uncertainty makes.) 

In November 2021, founders Roni and Oren Frank stepped down and their COO resigned shortly thereafter on a conduct-related allegation. Shareholders started to sue starting then. YTD results have also been dismal, with losses of $61 million on revenues of $89 million.

Talkspace would bolster Amwell’s mental health capabilities in telepsychiatry with a DTC and enterprise product. If the company hung on to most of their $184 million in cash reported in June (of the SPAC’s $250 million), for Amwell it also would be a deal that almost pays for itself. HealthcareDive, FierceHealthcare