So much for the conspiracy theory people were floating here about her being protected by her influential family and powerful connections.
We will have to wait and see what deal they make if pleading guilty.
U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
51–60 of 533 posts
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's like me saying "An antimatter drive would revolutionize space exploration" and starting to collect money but without even the faintest idea how to produce one In America, it's perfectly legal to say "I'm going to make an antimatter drive; give me a million dollars." It's illegal to say "I have a working antimatter drive prototype; give me a million dollars." Holmes and Balwani did the latter.
That is a good way to describe it. They also made the technology very secretive. Not even their investors could have access to implementation details.
Very similar to my secret perpetual motion machine.
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#53Holmes is a master obfuscator:
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's like me saying "An antimatter drive would revolutionize space exploration" and starting to collect money but without even the faintest idea how to produce one In America, it's perfectly legal to say "I'm going to make an antimatter drive; give me a million dollars." It's illegal to say "I have a working antimatter drive prototype; give me a million dollars." Holmes and Balwani did the latter.
> It's illegal to say "I have a working antimatter drive prototype; give me a million dollars." Holmes and Balwani did the latter. It's only illegal if you don't actually have one.
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Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#55I have been in this exact place before. For the two of them, this day will be just about the worst of their lives. This is ordinarily when hard-core criminals are taken into custody. If their experience was like mine, they had to show up in front of a magistrate with their lawyers, plead not guilty, then go to a dungeon for about 30 minutes while they get handcuffed, fingerprinted, mugshotted, and DNA-swabbed. Then,…
Re: "putting my worst enemy through", I don't know, this doesn't sound as bad as growing up in a war zone or even the ghetto, or getting waterboarded. Sounds like bureaucratic hell, but that's not even close to how bad things can get.
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#56Odds that she cries a lot and claims Balwani is the mastermind that manipulated poor naive innocent her?
Edit: and I don't mean in a sexist way. I suspect she will be ruthless in getting off the hook.
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
My question is: Did they have a prototype or at least a concept?
They did. They had two devices, the "Edison" and the "MiniLab". The Edison was intended to run a full panel of blood tests, both chemical and immunological assays, off a finger stick of blood. It was also intended to allow Theranos to function as its own lab. The Minilab was intended to run a full panel of blood tests I believe off a larger venous sample, and was expected to be marketed to existing labs (at this poin…
Do you believe Theranos could have beee successful company with less delusional management? (Honest question for a HN colleague for whom I have tremendous respect.)
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#58Does anybody know if Theranos got started with at least an idea how to accomplish what they wanted to do? From what I have heard in interviews they started with the thought "Doing xxx would be super useful" but didn't have an approach for accomplishing this but instead took in money and tried to figure it out. It's like me saying "An antimatter drive would revolutionize space exploration" and starting to collect mone…
> From what I have heard in interviews they started with the thought "Doing xxx would be super useful" but didn't have an approach for accomplishing this but instead took in money and tried to figure it out. So, just like most VC favorite startups?
I've been involved with many vc funded startups and have never encountered a situation where nobody knows how to achieve the core product vision. Nobody knows how to achieve profitability...sure.
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's like me saying "An antimatter drive would revolutionize space exploration" and starting to collect money but without even the faintest idea how to produce one In America, it's perfectly legal to say "I'm going to make an antimatter drive; give me a million dollars." It's illegal to say "I have a working antimatter drive prototype; give me a million dollars." Holmes and Balwani did the latter.
> It's illegal to say "I have a working antimatter drive prototype; give me a million dollars." Holmes and Balwani did the latter. It's only illegal if you don't actually have one.
In that sentence, "antimatter drive prototype" is defined to mean "a thing you couldn't possibly have," so don't be a pedant.
Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani
#60I have been in this exact place before. For the two of them, this day will be just about the worst of their lives. This is ordinarily when hard-core criminals are taken into custody. If their experience was like mine, they had to show up in front of a magistrate with their lawyers, plead not guilty, then go to a dungeon for about 30 minutes while they get handcuffed, fingerprinted, mugshotted, and DNA-swabbed. Then,…
The craziest part of the justice system is how dependent on money it is.
I am in a weekly support group for people with the same offense category as me, sometimes crimes not as bad as mine. Most of the members in this group are working class - hourly jobs, no savings, no emergency funds, government lawyers. They mostly had to serve time, had to register as offenders, have strict stipulations.
Meanwhile I was able to borrow money from my parents, got a good lawyer, and all I have to do is check in with probation once a month for a few years.