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She said that he was an abusive partner at home, and abusive to her at work.

The latter makes no sense, because if so, why didn't she fire him before they moved in together. You don't abuse/harass your boss and expect to get away with it.

Balwani wasnt just any employee. He was a significant debtor(investor?) to the company and could blackmail Holmes for her role in the fraud. Not saying Holmes is innocent or powerless, but it is not entirely fair to suggest she can fire him any time as he does have significant power over her.

While I’m not generally inclined to believe a word that Elizabeth Holmes says, it’s a fact that people do sometimes stay with abusive partners.

Oh absolutely. I was careful to word things the way I did - because I get that with intimate partner violence (I believe he was "only" accused of being mentally and emotionally abusive, not physically). And it would have become an order of magnitude more difficult when cohabiting.

But if they're not living with you, and at the time, your employee, I think the "why did you not fire this person" question is pretty valid - given that she had zero hesitation in firing multitudes of people very close to her for even slightly rocking the boat.

She absolutely blamed him and has tried to use him as the evil mastermind.

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