Science CULT leader busted in Silicon Valley

ReasonTV, 6/7/18; CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, and the Cult of Silicon Valley

Fraud female entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes became a Silicon Valley celebrity after she dropped out of Stanford University at 19 to start a biotech company called Theranos (therapy+diagnosis). Reason sat down with John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who unmasked the medical fraud behind Holmes's growing empire. She is now facing serious charges, is ruined, and has set women in science and business back a few years.
 

Who is Holmes?

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You CAN'T arrest me! (femen.org/en)

By June 2016, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was estimated to have a personal net worth of $4.5 billion. That has since dropped to virtually nothing. Her company was near bankruptcy until it received a $100 million investment from Fortress Investment Group in 2017. By 2018, the company was again close to going bankrupt.

(CNBC) Multi-billionaire Liz Holmes fights back on Mad Money

 

Her company?

Theranos is a privately held health technology company known for its false claims to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very tiny amounts of blood.
 
The company was lauded as a major challenger to existing companies before it was revealed that the company had lied about its core capabilities.

I'm an angel (Hughes)

Founded in 2003 by 19-year-old drop out Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US $700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $9 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014.

Investors and the media hyped Theranos as a breakthrough in the large blood testing market, where the US diagnostic-lab industry posts annual sales of over $70 billion. Theranos claimed its technology was revolutionary for a number of reasons.

At the time, Theranos said its tests required only about 1/100 to 1/1,000 of the amount of blood that would ordinarily be needed and cost far less than existing tests.

Should women stick to fashion, Old Boys?

There was a turning point in October 2015, when investigative reporter John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal questioned the validity of its technology.

Since then, Theranos has faced a string of legal and commercial challenges from medical authorities, investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, state attorneys general, former business partners, patients, and others. More

Bad Blood author and WSJ reporter John Carreyrou: She's a fraud!

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