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Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

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Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#281

Post by DoreenMichele »

supernova87a wrote: post #272

Again, I will just state that the reason we (maybe secretly) take so much satisfaction / schadenfreude at this story is that someone who was so hyped and the darling of Silicon Valley got so much funding and attention. While others who toil away on good ideas, without nearly so many connections and silver spoons, struggle to even get 1 minute of air time with the kind of funders and backers that she got. Separately,…

Schadenfreude is a word commonly used in discussion of the Theranos debacle and it really aggravates me because it presumes that anyone not throwing a pity party for these pathological liars defrauding people of money and potentially putting lives at stake with their bullshit tests that don't work are somehow bad people with negative personality traits.

No, Holmes and her people are bad people with negative personality traits. The folks going "Fuck yeah, this bullshit never made sense to me and I am glad to learn I am not crazy" aren't suffering some personality disorder. They just are glad to find reality aligns with their understanding of reality.

Also: Justice is a thing. Righteous anger over bad behavior is not schadenfreude.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#282

Post by minimaxir »

neom wrote: post #275
minimaxir wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, which just compounds the problem of newbie investors thinking "fake it until you make it" is OK because they get positive reinforcement from their investors.

Not to condescend, genuinely curious... you really believe Tim Draper is an n00b?

Sorry, meant "newbie entrepreneurs."

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#283

Post by ascendantlogic »

heliodor wrote: post #262
lxm wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interpreted it somewhat differently. The money paragraph seems to be > claimed that Theranos’ products were deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the battlefield in Afghanistan and on medevac helicopters and that the company would generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2014. In truth, Theranos’ technology was never deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense and generated a little more than $100,000 i…

My interpretation is that most startups don't deal with life-or-death lines of work, whereas Theranos does. There's no room for "creative" business practices there. The government will take note at some point and come chasing.

Yes, if you want to lie about some drone-based burrito delivery service you're probably not gonna draw the same ire as life-saving medical equipment. Although if you swindle investors for over $700 million in either case I imagine the SEC will be knocking at your door eventually.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#284

Post by x0x0 »

fragsworth wrote: post #268
lxm wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interpreted it somewhat differently. The money paragraph seems to be > claimed that Theranos’ products were deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the battlefield in Afghanistan and on medevac helicopters and that the company would generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2014. In truth, Theranos’ technology was never deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense and generated a little more than $100,000 i…

What does "PPM" stand for?

probably private placement memorandum

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#285

Post by danso »

oculusthrift wrote: post #60

I wonder if Holmes was male if she would be treated like Martin Shkreli and attacked in every horrible way possible. Don’t see much rhetoric against her.

Maybe it's because you weren't paying attention to it at the time. Or wasn't* reading HN when the investigations were coming out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12053721

Less than a year later, before punishments really started to be officially levied against her and Theranos, a movie project with Jennifer Lawrence drew a frenzy of bidding.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/06/jennifer-lawren...

edit: added "wasn't"

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#286

Post by Noughmad »

jonmc12 wrote: post #225
minimaxir wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth nothing that one of Theranos's VC funders, Tim Draper, did defend Holmes despite the fraud allegations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11973102 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/theranos-investor-cl...

https://www.axios.com/tim-draper-keeps-defending-theranos-15... "Venture capitalist Tim Draper, an old family friend of Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who led an early $1 million investment into the company (split between two investment firms).."

SV/tech/USA is so great, anyone can make it big. You just have to be smart and work hard. Oh, and be family friends with billionaires. Yeah, that's all.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#287

Post by anigbrowl »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #161
pron wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying that people are better off with a quick resolution rather than a court case is also a political statement, as it's an opinion on what we as a society should value.

no. people are better off with a quick resolution because professional attorneys at the SEC decided that the legal case against Holmes is not strong enough to waste taxpayer money trying to PROVE she committed a crime. Calling their decision into question without a shred of evidence that they did something suboptimal, based on your political beliefs alone, is what I am advocating against. EDIT: Which part of this sta…

Actually I'm relying on the SEC's statement that she was an active participant in a large multi-year fraud. True, I've always thought Theranos was Too Good To Be True and had doubt about la Holmes' probity.

But I think you're getting downvoted because you're arguing that white collar crime, even at scale, isn't worth prosecuting, and ignoring the perverse incentives that result from such decision-making.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#289

Post by [deleted] »

Coding_Cat wrote: post #56
minimaxir wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth nothing that one of Theranos's VC funders, Tim Draper, did defend Holmes despite the fraud allegations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11973102 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/theranos-investor-cl...

Tim Draper also stands to gain from Theranos being reviewed positively, valid product or not, being an investor.

[deleted]

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#290

Post by samfisher83 »

lxm wrote: post #74
ChuckMcM wrote: post #23

Ok, this is the money line in that press release for me: “The charges against Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani make clear that there is no exemption from the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws simply because a company is non-public, development-stage, or the subject of exuberant media attention.” For all those entrepreneurs are trying to "fake it until you make it" be aware that the SEC considers your…

I interpreted it somewhat differently. The money paragraph seems to be > claimed that Theranos’ products were deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the battlefield in Afghanistan and on medevac helicopters and that the company would generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2014. In truth, Theranos’ technology was never deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense and generated a little more than $100,000 i…

How do you not go to jail for this? This isn't fake it until you make it. This is massive fraud. 100 mil vs 100,000 is off by a factor of 1000.
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