Yesterday, a California jury found the estranged Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, guilty of fraud. She was accused of deceiving investors into funding her blood-testing technology company.
The 37-year-old woman was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud in 2018. She claimed her technology could scan for hundreds of diseases, including cancer, through drops of blood from her fingertip.
Interestingly, Joe Biden, during his time as the vice president of the country, endorsed the company.
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the blood testing start-up Theranos, faced 11 counts of fraud for lying to investors, patients and others to raise money and the profile for her company. Here’s what jurors decided:https://t.co/Ye6fA73Ucj pic.twitter.com/rAaviWrsuV
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 4, 2022
Billion-Dollar Fraud
Elizabeth Holmes literally promised to change the world with her technology. Besides, if the technology was what she claimed, it would revolutionize the conventional method of drawing blood from needles before being sent to labs for results.
Ideally, the conventional methods take days before results are gotten, but Holmes promised something better and faster.
Besides, she was very convincing in her pitch that she and her business partner, Ramesh Balwani, were able to secure massive funding and lucrative deals to the tune of $945 million.
These deals were secured by Safeway, Walgreens, and Pfizer. In addition, she became very popular in Silicon Valley and got featured on many top magazine covers.
Furthermore, the disgraced Silicon Valley sweetheart was likened to Steve Jobs. Interestingly, she also wore the same black-colored turtlenecks the Apple founder was famous for wearing during presentations.
Her trial lasted for up to four months. During this time, chief executives, dozens of scientists, and a four-star general acted as witnesses on the case.
Elizabeth Holmes was painted as a desperate fraudster who lied at every opportunity to make money. On the other hand, the defense said Holmes was simply misunderstood, while also under the unbreakable control of a co-owner and Svengali.
Biden Endorsed Theranos
Biden helped further the fraudulent Holmes and Theranos cause when he was the vice president. He heaped a lot of praises on the company and claimed her company would be revolutionary.
Biden visited the Theranos headquarters on July 23, 2015.
Biden’s praise played key role in legitimizing Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, reporter says | Fox Business https://t.co/2RYhZtex3b
— Tman Dman (@tman_dman) January 4, 2022
Both Biden and the company posted the details of his visit on Twitter at the time. Biden described the company’s work as inspirational. Besides, the endorsement from the Obama White House is believed to have aided her company’s case in securing major funding from investors.
However, the sham of a company didn’t last for long, as an investigation by John Carrevrou of the Wall Street Journal showed the company was lying about its blood test technology. It also turned out Theranos was using existing technology to carry out its blood tests.
Investigations found out the Theranos technology was deeply flawed and inaccurate. Yet, Elizabeth Holmes still continued to parade it as a success, despite very well knowing that it was a total failure.
