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11 ans
Elizabeth Holmes, found guilty in January of having lied to investors regarding the real progress of her business, was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison. She has until April 27, 2023 to appeal. Failing this, she must, on this date, give herself up as a prisoner.
800 millions
Mrs. Holmes is also ordered to return the money she obtained from the investors – the sum in question will be determined in another trial. We are talking regarding 800 million dollars.
Vision
The young woman, now 38, had the idea, then aged 19, of inventing a device capable, on the basis of a drop of blood collected at the fingertip, of carrying out a battery of tests. blood. This device had been baptized Edison and developed within the Theranos company.
Family phobia
The idea behind the company Theranos, a portmanteau word formed from the English words “therapy” (therapy) and “diagnosis” (diagnosis), would find its origin in the phobia of injections shared by Elizabeth Holmes, her mother and his grandmother.
Early ambition
Elizabeth Holmes seems to have developed some of the “qualities” that will characterize her very early on. At age 7 she draws a time machine, at age 9 she declares that she wants to become rich enough for the President of the United States to marry her.
Paternal model?
Elizabeth Holmes’ father was vice-president of Enron, once one of the most important American companies by market capitalization, but which was the subject of a resounding fraudulent bankruptcy in December 2001.
Surface strategy
Surfing on her young age, her mastery of Mandarin and her time at the prestigious Stanford University, she created Theranos by adopting the codes of the gurus of Silicon Valley, in particular those of Steve Jobs. Black crew-neck sweater, meditation, voice one octave lower than naturally, veganism and four hours of sleep…
Internal turmoil
Appearances attract capital and investors. Theranos will be valued at up to $10 billion. But the atmosphere within the company is surprising. Chemists cannot communicate with engineers, employees cannot indicate on social networks who their employers are and are monitored at their workplace by cameras.
fragmented knowledge
Pour “prevent technology from being copied”, nobody has an overview. Except Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Ramesh Balwani (also sued). When Ian Gibbons, a renowned British biochemist hired by Theranos, discovers, in 2013, the technological reality of the company, he will commit suicide.
Wall Street Journal
John Carreyrou, journalist at Wall Street Journal, investigate and publicize the fraud. Theranos will be liquidated in 2018. This whole affair is the subject of a film (Bad Blood) and a miniseries, The Dropout (South Disney+).
