Jump to content

Theranos' Death Rattle


TwiceHorn

Recommended Posts

44 minutes ago, TurkeyChew said:

Low key this defense attorney/team has done an outstanding job, it seems, no matter the end result. They took a steaming turd-burger and at worst, have given the jury heartburn about the case. At best, they will skate on some charges. 

From what I gathered the prosecution's delivery was just very dull, arrogant, and ham fisted. 

Holmes is a new mother and might have been "abused" by her partner. This matters to 4 women on the jury and I think we're seeing that now. 

I agree, she's going to skate on something. I think they convict on the doctored memo. It's physical evidence that Holmes admitted to doctoring on the stand. 

At a minimum, Sunny should get a pretty good plea deal. I doubt the government will want to do this all over again. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

From what I gathered the prosecution's delivery was just very dull, arrogant, and ham fisted. 

Holmes is a new mother and might have been "abused" by her partner. This matters to 4 women on the jury and I think we're seeing that now. 

I agree, she's going to skate on something. I think they convict on the doctored memo. It's physical evidence that Holmes admitted to doctoring on the stand. 

At a minimum, Sunny should get a pretty good plea deal. I doubt the government will want to do this all over again. 

Often its the men that play protector in that role and the women have her pegged for a hussy, particularly if they think she is a pretty blonde. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TurkeyChew said:

Low key this defense attorney/team has done an outstanding job, it seems, no matter the end result. They took a steaming turd-burger and at worst, have given the jury heartburn about the case. At best, they will skate on some charges. 

the jury has said that they're deadlocked on 3 of the 11 charges. Judge sent them back to deliberate but reminded them of the state's burden of proof.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

No minimum sentence and usually they don’t stack sentences (Madoff was unusual). It will be interesting to see what she gets.

Any one of the wire frauds is 20, so it will be somewhere between 0 and 20.

Although 140MM is an impressive loss number, it's not going to push it past 10 under the guidelines, I don't think, but financial loss calculations under the sentencing guidelines are completely fucked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

She's be a tech CEO within a year of getting out of jail and everyone will act like it's perfectly normal.

I doubt it, if her company had been successful and she was just caught exaggerating/lying to the IRS or something I’d agree with you, but defrauding investors to this degree and covering up that her company was a complete failure for years will keep her from ever being a CEO again.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apology if info previously posted,  but the story of Tyler Shultz (grandson of former SecState George Shultz) one of the whistleblowers.   Bright, young mind with integrity.

Note his comments of the pressures of beginning his own startup. (excerpt)

 

Shultz was not the only Theranos whistleblower, but he was the first to report troubling findings at the company to regulators. At the time, it was a risky and bold move, and it came at a high cost for Shultz. But it helped accelerate scrutiny that would ultimately end with the company's implosion.

 

Shultz had worked countless hours in labs. Armed with this scientific know-how, he quickly realized something was amiss when he looked inside of the Edison device.

"There is nothing that the Edison could do that I couldn't do with a pipette in my own hand," he said.

Then he discovered another alarming thing: When Theranos completed quality-control safety audits, it was running tests not on the Edison, but on commercially available lab equipment. That did not seem right.

"It was clear that there was an open secret within Theranos that this technology simply didn't exist," Shultz said.

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1070474663/theranos-whistleblower-tyler-shultz-elizabeth-holmes-verdict-champagne

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/4/2022 at 10:13 AM, TurkeyChew said:

Also wasn't part of her pre-trial conditions that she can't be a CEO? I wonder if that would extend to parole conditions.

Wouldn't that only be for public companies?  I would imagine she has a right to earn a living once released, but it if it were in business leadership, her only avenue would be private companies.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

Wouldn't that only be for public companies?  I would imagine she has a right to earn a living once released, but it if it were in business leadership, her only avenue would be private companies.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

I went and dug it up. Actually what happened is she settled with the SEC before criminal charges were pursued:

"Holmes had already settled federal fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to a $500,000 penalty and a 10-year ban on working as an officer or director of a public company. She did not admit or deny the charges in the settlement. Balwani faces those charges in court."

“I think it’s a pretty unique set of remedies,” said Steven Peikin, the co-director of the SEC’s enforcement division. “I think it’s a particularly meaningful one . . . in Silicon Valley, where the founders of start-up companies like this obviously value the concept of control.”

Theranos has been in free fall since 2015, when a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed problems at the company. Regulators uncovered deficiencies and banned Holmes from owning or operating a laboratory for two years.

A lawyer for Holmes declined to comment. Peikin would not say whether Holmes or Balwani could face criminal charges.

[Spoiler Alert: they did face them.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Seems the SEC let her off easy.

The SEC's job is mostly to protect investors and its processes and procedures are civil in nature, rather than criminal.  Given its "remit," that seems about right.

What is kind of amazing, though, and possibly an SEC failure, was not civilly seizing Theranos' assets and trying to liquidate it to benefit investors.  I guess they don't really do that unless it's an outright Ponzi scheme where most of the money goes to enrich the Ponzi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Seems the SEC let her off easy.

Despite what the co-director of the enforcement division said, it's far from a unique set of remedies.  Just about any fraud case you hear about has something like it attached.  The bullshit "did not admit or deny the charges" is 100% in every SEC settlement - even the most blatant cases of fraud.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/4/2022 at 9:21 AM, Aqua Buddha said:

She's be a tech CEO within a year of getting out of jail and everyone will act like it's perfectly normal.

She'll be the female version of Jordan Belfort after serving her 5-7 years.  She's got plenty of time to have a long and distinguished career thieving money from folks on the public speaking circuit.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/8/2022 at 10:32 AM, pronghorn said:

I enjoy this continues to be portrayed as tech gone awry when no tech VCs touched this company. It was almost all family offices and "dumb" money.

theranos was a biotech company.  DFJ was heavily involved throughout.  iirc they were the last off that sinking ship.  

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/12/2022 at 8:34 AM, Steel Shank said:

From what I understand, women's prison is a female jungle of seething hell of steel and stone where bodies behind bars ache for a man - any man, where caged passions ignite in carnal confinement and explode into violence.

Continue Season 9 GIF by The Office

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/12/2022 at 8:34 AM, Steel Shank said:

From what I understand, women's prison is a female jungle of seething hell of steel and stone where bodies behind bars ache for a man - any man, where caged passions ignite in carnal confinement and explode into violence.

mark-cuban-shark-tank.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw this article about her being an imprisoned  mother of a young child.  https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/01/14/as-a-mother-in-prison-elizabeth-holmes-faces-an-agonizing-separation-from-son/

I had kind of forgotten/ignored her decisions to a) get married and b) have a child while under federal indictment.

On reflection, those were a couple of fairly psychotic decisions.  Made even more curious by the fact that someone else more or less agreed to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...