Theranos trial thread

[CaptainCrunch]

I thought it would be good to have a thread, I searched for another one, but no luck


Ramesh Balwani was found guilty on 12 counts of Fraud. Holmes was found guilty of 4 counts earlier, both are facing up to 20 years in prison.


https://globalnews.ca/news/8974148/t...medium=Twitter

A jury on Thursday convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of collaborating with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a massive fraud involving the blood-testing company that once enthralled Silicon Valley.
The 12 jurors found Balwani guilty on all 12 felony counts of defrauding both Theranos investors and the patients who relied on wildly unreliable blood tests that could have jeopardized their health.

The dual convictions represent a resounding victory for federal prosecutors, who seized on the Theranos case as a rare opportunity to hold ambitious entrepreneurs accountable for engaging in technological hyperbole while pursuing fame and fortune. In the process, they hoped to discourage the practice of making bold and unproven promises about still-nascent products — a startup strategy known as “fake it until you make it.”

[Locke]

Good. Throw the book at them.

I also dont like the adage of 'Fake it 'til you Make It.'

That is ridiculous on its face, but even more so in the Theranos case.

I always think back to interviews with the Dean of Medicine at Stanford who sat down with Holmes at the very beginning and just succinctly told her that it just isnt possible. Its a neat idea, but you cannot run all these tests with that little blood, its fundamentally flawed and completely impossible.

You can miniaturize technology to a degree...sure. But you cant change the amount of blood needed to run certain tests and still have those tests be valid and accurate.

But she went and did it anyways and bilked a ton of people out of their cash.

[Misterpants]

Originally Posted by Locke

Good. Throw the book at them.

I also dont like the adage of 'Fake it 'til you Make It.'

That is ridiculous on its face, but even more so in the Theranos case.

I always think back to interviews with the Dean of Medicine at Stanford who sat down with Holmes at the very beginning and just succinctly told her that it just isnt possible. Its a neat idea, but you cannot run all these tests with that little blood, its fundamentally flawed and completely impossible.

You can miniaturize technology to a degree...sure. But you cant change the amount of blood needed to run certain tests and still have those tests be valid and accurate.

But she went and did it anyways and bilked a ton of people out of their cash.

The next fake it til you make it people they need to go after are the "Breathe Right Strips" to prevent snoring. They don't do jack squat.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Misterpants

The next fake it til you make it people they need to go after are the "Breathe Right Strips" to prevent snoring. They don't do jack squat.

But maybe they will one day!!

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Misterpants

The next fake it til you make it people they need to go after are the "Breathe Right Strips" to prevent snoring. They don't do jack squat.

Really? I have pretty bad sinus issues (including having to get a septoplasty) and those strips make a noticeable difference. Even just a slight widening of the nasal passage (temporarily) helps me breathe better, which the strips do.

[Sliver]

My sinuses are fine, but every once in a while I'll snort some Otrivin as a special treat. Makes you feel like an elite athlete getting all that extra oxygen all at once. Smoke a bowl, two shots of Otrivin in each nostril, and slap on the CPAP with humidity at maximum is one of life's great pleasures.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

My sinuses are fine, but every once in a while I'll snort some Otrivin as a special treat. Makes you feel like an elite athlete getting all that extra oxygen all at once. Smoke a bowl, two shots of Otrivin in each nostril, and slap on the CPAP with humidity at maximum is one of life's great pleasures.

Peak humanity. Drugs, drugs, and tech.

[CaptainCrunch]

Elizabeth Holmes gets 11 years in prison.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/elizab...cing-1.6654597

A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years and three months in federal prison.
Holmes, who was CEO throughout the company's turbulent 15-year history, duped investors and endangered patients with the company's false claims it had developed a medical device that could detect a multitude of diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood.
The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila was shorter than the 15-year penalty requested by federal prosecutors but far tougher than the leniency her legal team sought for Holmes, who has a one-year-old son and another child on the way.

The judge set Holmes's surrender date for April. Her lawyers are expected to ask the judge to allow her to remain free on bail during her appeal.

Prosecutors also want her to pay $804 million US in restitution. The amount covers most of the nearly $1 billion US that Holmes raised from a list of sophisticated investors that included software magnate Larry Ellison, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Walton family behind Walmart.
The judge on Friday said restitution will be discussed during a later date.

[Johnny199r]

Not the smartest idea to have a child, thinking it would help her stay out of jail.

[FlamesAddiction]

I always assume that people like this still have money stashed away somewhere. She will probably get out of jail in 11 years and have more net worth than the majority of people her age.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

anybody watch the TV series on these two? it was ... interesting

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

anybody watch the TV series on these two? it was ... interesting

Series and film. I've been following this intently every since John Carreyrou broke this story years ago. I use it in my classroom as an example of egregious ethical violations in biotech business practice.

Honestly, I can't get enough of this. If it was fiction people would have a hard time believing it.

[Locke]

Its actually funny, especially within the context of the insolvency of the FTX and bitcoin as well as Musk being a complete clown with twitter.

These people that investors believe to be competent running these enormous Corporations are actually clownshoes idiots.

Who buys this garbage?

I know that anyone can be purloined by a scam, but sometimes it just seems so obvious.

[chedder]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I always assume that people like this still have money stashed away somewhere. She will probably get out of jail in 11 years and have more net worth than the majority of people her age.

She likely does but she also married the son of a California hotel tycoon.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Locke

Its actually funny, especially within the context of the insolvency of the FTX and bitcoin as well as Musk being a complete clown with twitter.

These people that investors believe to be competent running these enormous Corporations are actually clownshoes idiots.

Who buys this garbage?

I know that anyone can be purloined by a scam, but sometimes it just seems so obvious.

Theranos had seemed legit though, so I could see an intelligent investor being had as there weren’t a lot of red flags initially. FTX though is on a totally different spectrum. Like, you’d need to be certified brain dead to trust them with any assets. Crypto is all about FOMO now.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Locke

Its actually funny, especially within the context of the insolvency of the FTX and bitcoin as well as Musk being a complete clown with twitter.

These people that investors believe to be competent running these enormous Corporations are actually clownshoes idiots.

Who buys this garbage?

I know that anyone can be purloined by a scam, but sometimes it just seems so obvious.

A combination of FOMO and having legitimacy of having supposedly competent people around her and on the board. Having the big names affiliated with it at the very beginning provided weight to it. 'A guy like George Schultz wouldn't get involved if this wasn't the real deal. He would have done his due diligence so I shouldn't need to if I want to get in on this.' Or 'That talk of military contracts must have legs if people like Mattis and Kissinger are on board.'



But there's a reason only some of the fraud charges came back with a guilty verdict and not others. There were some who didn't do their proper diligence and got caught in with the hype, but there were others who were defrauded when trying to do it. Lies about contracts, putting a Pfizer logo on a fake pharmaceutical report for example.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Theranos had seemed legit though, so I could see an intelligent investor being had as there weren’t a lot of red flags initially. FTX though is on a totally different spectrum. Like, you’d need to be certified brain dead to trust them with any assets. Crypto is all about FOMO now.

What? No it fataing wasnt!

Her college Dean of Medicine told her on Day 1 that you couldnt run those tests on that little amount of blood.

Day #1. Actually well before Day #1.

Dean of Medicine: "You cant process this number of tests on this little amount of blood."

Holmes: "Yes I can BECAUSE I WANTS TO!!!!!!!!"

Narrator: "She cannot."

And here we are.

[Wormius]

^^ when did anybody learn of that? That’s why I said it seemed legit at the time to investors or anybody not in the health tech, unless her professor at Stanford made those observations well-known before investors started pouring their money in.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Wormius

^^ when did anybody learn of that? That’s why I said it seemed legit at the time to investors or anybody not in the health tech, unless her professor at Stanford made those observations well-known before investors started pouring their money in.

Dude....I am not Nostradamus or anything.

You cannot run that many tests on that little blood. Period. Full stop.

If it sounds too good to be true.....?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Locke

Dude....I am not Nostradamus or anything.

You cannot run that many tests on that little blood. Period. Full stop.

If it sounds too good to be true.....?

I don’t know many people who could even say how much blood you’d need to run those tests on. I’d have to do a search here to see if anyone back in the day was saying “no, this is crazy, it’s impossible!”, or were people more like, “wow, that’s amazing they could build the tech to do that!”

I think the vast majority of the public at large suspected nothing until all of the whistleblowers came forward and exposed the deception.

That’s why from an outsiders view that looked legit, as opposed to FTX, where you don’t need to dig deep to figure out it’s fraud.