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UberGerbil wrote:

Bonus from the comment thread for that image, for one of the soldering threads here.

I have that exact soldering iron; cheap-a** Radio Shack Special FTW! (Even if it was plugged in and she was holding it right, I doubt it would be very effective on the tiny surface mount components over by the PCI slots...)

I've got the same iron and those are some seriously crispy fingers.

I feel bad for both of those people because neither one of them is trying to pass themselves off as a total genius. OTOH, Lizardlips Holmes did.

So for those that can't get enough, the WSJ reporter who pushed the story into mainstream has a book out. (NYT review). One thing that's interesting in the "story behind the story": Rupert Murdoch (owner of the WSJ along with a good chunk of the newsmedia landscape) was Theranos' biggest investor, and Holmes pleaded with him to kill the story. To Murdoch's credit, he stayed out of it and the story ran. I am in no way a fan of that man (and he's gone the other way when given the same kind of decision in the past) but full props here.

Sounds like he realized he had been scammed, figured he wasn't getting his investment back regardless, and decided to get some revenge.

One of the lessons (as if it wasn't clear already from past scandals like Enron and the financial crisis): listen to the low-level people, including the ones who were fired. One or two of them might just be bellyachers with an axe to grind, but when multiple people in a position to know keep pointing out the lack of clothes on the emperor, there's something wrong. From the NYTimes review:

nytimes wrote:

[former secretary of state and Theranos board member George] Shultz helped his grandson land a job; when the kid reported back that the place was rotten, Grandpa didn’t believe him. There is a larger moral here: The people in the trenches know best. The V.I.P. directors were nectar for investor bees, but they had no relevant expertise.

Even outsiders could have spotted red flags, but averted their eyes as if they wanted to believe. Fishy excuses — Holmes blamed a production delay on an earthquake in Japan — were blithely accepted. When a Walgreens team visited Theranos it pointedly asked for — and was denied — permission to see the lab. A company consultant pleaded that the chain not go ahead with in-store clinics. “Someday this is going to be a black eye,” he predicted. But Walgreens was plagued by a “fear of missing out.” Like many executives, they were looking over their shoulder and not at the evidence.

Of course you have to know about the low level people raising the red flags. That's not easy, even today when sites like glassdoor exist. Which is another reason why real journalism (ie the kind that confirm information and get second sources, not just run with whatever's available for the current news cycle) is more important than ever.

So I bought John Carreyrou's (the WSJ reporter who wrote the original investigative pieces in 2017) book "Bad Blood" about the saga. I really enjoyed the book and it was a quick read. A couple of points that I gleaned from it:
1. Theranos was fairly unique in Silicon Valley, as it had a product (instead of an idea) that could be monetized in an existing industry with huge revenues (and that was growing). It explains some of the fawning
2. Everyone assumed they were legit (as they had CLIA certification, some official FDA recognition, and patents)
3. They were extremely litigious. They went after those that talked to Carreyrou, hard. Tyler Schultz alone had $400,000 in attorney's fees
4. Their board was worthless (though Holmes controlled the votes, anyway).

New federal criminal charges against Holmes and Balwani:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-files- ... 1529096005

Apparently ten counts including nine wire fraud and one conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, each could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in the Martha Stewart Special, a $250k fine, and restitution requirements.

I'd expect her to be appointed HHS Secretary next week!

DancinJack wrote:

I'd expect her to be appointed HHS Secretary next week!

Ars: HBO’s Elizabeth Holmes Documentary Tells A Bloody Good Story Of A Bad Con Job

ABC had a good podcast (6 episodes) called The Dropout which culls some of their depositions from all of the lawsuits (Walgreens, investors) and you hear from both Holmes and Balwani in the testimony, as well as some Theranos employees (such as Erica Cheung and Michael Craig) as well as Balwani's lawyer. If you read Carreyrou's book some of it is retread, but there are some new tidbits that made it worth it (to me).

One of the best more recent articles was by Nick Bolton from Vanity Fair about what happened as Theranos collapsed: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/inside-elizabeth-holmess-final-months-at-theranos. He also had an episode of his Podcast (Inside the Hive with Nick Bolton) about the article (mostly the same).

Tonight (March 15th) ABC is going to have a 2 hour episode of 20/20 (9PM EDT) that follows-up on The Dropout podcast (not sure how much is going to rehash and how much new information their will be).

The 1701 Page Mill Road building is also up for lease, and is in the same configuration (currently) as when Theranos occupied it (which highlights the circular geometry mentioned in the book and some articles):
http://studios.com/projects/1701_page_mill_road/
http://images2.loopnet.com/d2/_7CcoFxqrWIJAMotANXNuWOzXqVbNimio8L8zBjpKgU/document.pdf
http://images4.loopnet.com/d2/iAJfMIqw6jDQH6n2Hzz6hWznFgGF-qoVDf5x4h3DEPg/document.pdf

The Egg wrote:

Ars: HBO’s Elizabeth Holmes Documentary Tells A Bloody Good Story Of A Bad Con Job

So, I'm pumped for the doc. I read Bad Blood and it was pretty great too. This story is just so nuts. It's really hard to believe it is real life at times.

DancinJack wrote:

This story is just so nuts. It's really hard to believe it is real life at times.

That could be said of many aspects of the world today. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a movie about some bizarre alternate reality.

just brew it! wrote:

DancinJack wrote:

This story is just so nuts. It's really hard to believe it is real life at times.

That could be said of many aspects of the world today. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a movie about some bizarre alternate reality.

This is the darkest timeline.
Well, not the darkest (at least until Skynet gets going). But.. darker.

Ars has a review (well more of a summary really) of the doc. But the promoted comment at the end is really the kicker for me. Theranos as the Facebook of personal medical data (you freely give it to them, they do... whatever they want with it) is chilling. And even though this first attempt flamed out spectacularly, you know there are a whole string lined up with the same goal in mind.

UberGerbil wrote:

Ars has a review (well more of a summary really) of the doc. But the promoted comment at the end is really the kicker for me. Theranos as the Facebook of personal medical data (you freely give it to them, they do... whatever they want with it) is chilling. And even though this first attempt flamed out spectacularly, you know there are a whole string lined up with the same goal in mind.

Oh yeah, for sure. I'd (kinda) like to use one of those DNA/ancestry things, but the implications of those companies having YOUR DNA and CC/address/etc are just a little too scary for me.

DancinJack wrote:

UberGerbil wrote:

Ars has a review (well more of a summary really) of the doc. But the promoted comment at the end is really the kicker for me. Theranos as the Facebook of personal medical data (you freely give it to them, they do... whatever they want with it) is chilling. And even though this first attempt flamed out spectacularly, you know there are a whole string lined up with the same goal in mind.

Oh yeah, for sure. I'd (kinda) like to use one of those DNA/ancestry things, but the implications of those companies having YOUR DNA and CC/address/etc are just a little too scary for me.

What's worse is that you don't really have any control over whether they get it or not. I have aunts/uncles who have done the DNA ancestry thing on both sides, and as we saw by the Golden State Killer case, having a close relative's DNA is just about as good as having yours.

The Egg wrote:

What's worse is that you don't really have any control over whether they get it or not. I have aunts/uncles who have done the DNA ancestry thing on both sides, and as we saw by the Golden State Killer case, having a close relative's DNA is just about as good as having yours.

True, I just try to control what I can within reason.

It's truly amazing, and horrifying, just how far Holmes was able to get with ideas that were nothing more than science fiction, using lots of corporate-psyche buzzwords and cute catch phrases. The snow job she did on people who should have known better is most impressive. I'm unsure as to whether that's a judgment on the sheer power and audacity of her cult of personality, or the lack of judgment of people who had far more dollars than sense.

Was the woman really nothing more than an epic snake oil salesman in a black turtleneck? The capacity for otherwise smart people to become so utterly outwitted by a college dropout is breathtaking.

I read a story recently that lots of people who were involved with Theranos are now having a very hard time finding work. No one wants to be associated with that dumpster fire. The people who worked there the longest are really branded with the mark of Cain, especially those who remained after the WSJ story first broke. The sad truth is that most of the Theranos rank and file had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. They didn't realize the science was all junk and their entire organization was little more than an elaborate, high-stakes house of cards. And the strong winds were coming.

tanker27 wrote:

BWHAHAHAHA

So that's what that is. It didn't sound like a naturally-low female voice.

She was ****, but the people that enabled her were probably worse tbh. Her board and investors were just like "OK LET'S DO IT" after seeing...nothing? Good plan.

This is not an invitation to discuss VC and angel investing and whatnot. That isn't the point. There were SO many signs this was a mess and people just ignored them, for years!

the wife and I watched the HBO Theranos Doc last night and she made an observation:

Could it be?

I'm unconvinced; Bill isn't really a turtleneck kind of guy.

LOL, I did not realize this until now. Holmes' father was a VP at Enron! Looks like "fake it till you make it" runs in the family...

Murica!!