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U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

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Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#131

Post by maxxxxx »

jjoonathan wrote: post #65
maxxxxx wrote: post #6

Does 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…

My suspicion: Holmes heard about microfluidics at school, misjudged its position in the hype cycle (it's a red ocean, not a blue ocean), sold herself as an expert, raised money from people who didn't know better, and let the success get to her head because at some point she would have hired actual experts and they would probably have tried to steer her away from the known-hard problem she was trying to tackle and tow…

This sound like she started with good intentions but when it was clear she was failing she didn't quit but started lying until the lies got bigger and bigger. Sounds a little like Madoff.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#132

Post by jessaustin »

whoisjuan wrote: post #34
balozi wrote: post #20

Wait, what?! Ramesh Balwani was Ms. Holmes's boyfriend? I don't recall seeing that covered anywhere else before.

Really? Wow, that's a weird couple...

Sort of reminds one of James Wolfe and Ali Watkins...

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#133

Post by IncRnd »

tptacek wrote: post #45
maxxxxx wrote: post #21

Earlier 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…

The answer is no. The answer isn't yes their working devices didn't work.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#134

Post by mchannon »

jessaustin wrote: post #127
mchannon wrote: post #43

I 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,…

I have a lot of sympathy for you, because I know that decent people are railroaded by federal prosecutors every day. That's not what's going on here. Prosecutors are attacking wealthy interests, not just defending them. (Since this is primarily a dispute among investors, wealthy interests are in opposition. Prosecutors have to choose a side, and they always choose the one farther up the pyramid.) It's actually pretty…

Sympathy is better than the other thing.

The fact is that we don't know what actually happened, only what the government and media want us to know, even if it isn't so. They look guilty as hell, but so do innocent people.

Trial by jury is better than trial by media, so I'll take the high road and reserve my judgment until then.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#135

Post by macspoofing »

verylittlemeat wrote: post #9

So much for the conspiracy theory people were floating here about her being protected by her influential family and powerful connections.

That was a thing? I would think that making an enemy of a bunch of billionaires and political figures would have excerbated her downfall.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#136

Post by comex »

epistasis wrote: post #115
MBCook wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, to be fair, experts in the field called the original iPhone impossible. Turns out in this case they were right.

I'm not sure if there were "experts" of the same caliber calling the iPhone impossible. In fact, I don't recall anybody saying it was impossible, but would like to find out more. I remember a ton of doubt, after launch, that it would be successful, but those people weren't really experts.

Here’s one example. Apparently RIM’s employees collectively thought it was impossible (to achieve the stated battery life); I think they count as experts:

> RIM had a complete internal panic when Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007, a former employee revealed this weekend. The BlackBerry maker is now known to have held multiple all-hands meetings on January 10 that year, a day after the iPhone was on stage, and to have made outlandish claims about its features. Apple was effectively accused of lying as it was supposedly impossible that a device could have such a large touchscreen but still get a usable lifespan away from a power outlet.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/12/27/rim.thought.apple.was...

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#137

Post by shawn »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #82
shawn wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ordinarily when hard-core criminals are taken into custody. It's basically like being free, but you have to stay out of trouble and report all contacts with law enforcement. There's a small chance they'll have to go this route anyway, since the government can snatch the money They're not going to have to serve consecutive 20-year terms for what they're accused of Holmes will be offered, I'm guessing, about 6-…

> Quite an interesting contrast between what privileged rich people have to worry about vs poor This is speculation. Let’s wait to see what is handed down. It was common thought on these forums just weeks ago that money and connections would buy Holmes out of an indictment.

It wasn’t entirely speculation, since he had firsthand experience.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#138

Post by maxxxxx »

rubicon33 wrote: post #121
sarchertech wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holmes dropped out after 3 semesters. As far as I can tell she took one intro chemical engineering class. Not what I would call experience with microfluidics.

Sounds like she drank too much of the "drop out of college and disrupt the valley" kool aid.

She certainly is not a good person but a lot of blame should be put on the VCs and board members. They could have figured things out if they had bothered to look.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#139

Post by IncRnd »

dboreham wrote: post #52
badminton1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Based upon what you said, there is just one flaw in your pmm. I know how to fix it. Unfortunately, I can't tell you. The secret is proprietary, and I need to make sure that it doesn't get corrupted, so everyone can use it for free.

Re: U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani

#140

Post by oldgradstudent »

21 wrote: post #105
maxander wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any citations on that? In all the hullabaloo about Theranos I haven't heard that there were serious theoretical difficulties with what they were trying to do. It would make me feel somewhat better about the whole mess to know this was the case. A successful Theranos would have been the best thing to come out of SV since the Apple II. It was sad to see it fail because of executives' delusions.

I am no expert, but it's my understanding that blood in the capillaries (fingertip) is not exactly the same as blood in the veins. > In addition, the small volumes involved and the variability in sample quality based on puncture site and technique make capillary sampling particularly susceptible to errors during the pre-preanalytical phase, which are beyond the control of clinical laboratory personnel https://www.ncb…

It's not the same as the veins, and varies a lot between fingers and location.

It is well known to any diabetic, or to anyone who played for a few minutes with a blood glucose monitor.

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