At the age of 19, Elizabeth Holmes promised to disrupt the multibillion-dollar blood testing industry with her revolutionary finger-prick tests. The flashy Board! The turtle necks! The deep voice! The generational white wealth! It all helped to create a facade that at the age of 19, while most of us were playing flip cup and making questionable decisions, Holmes had created a device that would undercut blood testing costs and deliver results to sick people in seconds...except she didn't. The $8 billion company had 800 employees and was operating in Walgreens stores in Phoenix when John Carreyrou's whistleblowing piece in the Wall Street Journal outed Theranos as imaginary technology that was never fully functioning. Pretty much...it was a toy. A fancy toy!
This week we talk about about how the Stanford drop out scammed her way through the highest ranks of Palo Alto, raised billions, locked in a Board made up with of Apple execs and a Secretary of State, all to later be outed as a liar with a made up machine. Holmes is currently being charged with nine counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and face fines of $250k and 20 years in prison.
Cassandra's Overall Scam Score: 0.33
Taylor's Overall Scam Score: 1
More Theranos content we cited in this episode
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup