Steve Job's legacy: the cult for sociopaths leaders
Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
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Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#12Whoever—
(1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or
(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true;
is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. This section is applicable whether the statement or subscription is made within or without the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 773; Pub. L. 88–619, § 1, Oct. 3, 1964, 78 Stat. 995; Pub. L. 94–550, § 2, Oct. 18, 1976, 90 Stat. 2534; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#13You realize that since 2-3 years it is now standard legal practice to make sure deciders don't know the details of important decisions. They know the decision, of course, and what was chosen, and they decide. But they don't know who the email was sent to to implement the decision. Or they don't know the law firm depositing it. Or they only generally know the numbers involved, and have since destroyed the exact number…
Anecdata: my sister proposed automated tire sensors for a trucking firm to the President of said firm. They asked "If a tire comes off a truck on the highway and causes an accident or fatality, will this sensor be able to show if the tire was incorrectly mounted or had bad pressure?" She replied, "Yes, exactly". They then said "Then we definitely don't want this on our trucks" This was 15 years ago.
That's because in the trucking industry, at least here in europe, there is fierce competition. This means that companies that don't use material and employees until their absolute limits are being filtered out by market forces. The only way to improve the situation is by government involvement, both through stricter laws and more regular controls. E.g. there are rules to prevent exhaustion of truck drivers by mandating pauses for certain lengths. Or in Germany there's a discussion now whether turning assistants should be made mandatory or not.
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#14Related, The Dropout is available on Spotify [1]
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#15You realize that since 2-3 years it is now standard legal practice to make sure deciders don't know the details of important decisions. They know the decision, of course, and what was chosen, and they decide. But they don't know who the email was sent to to implement the decision. Or they don't know the law firm depositing it. Or they only generally know the numbers involved, and have since destroyed the exact number…
>You realize that since 2-3 years it is now standard legal practice to make sure deciders don't know the details of important decisions.
What leads you to believe this? You mention a specific time period as if there is some event that caused it to be the case, but I'm not sure what that event would be, nor have I seen this in action in my career.
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#16is this news? if anyone was in her place they would do no less. it's likely she's going to jail for at least a little while. who wants to go from potential billionaire to jailbird? how would that effect your mental health?
Apparently Holmes is trying to raise money again [1] [1]: https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-elizabeth-h...
This is reminiscent of the story for Billy McFarland, the founder of the Fyre Festival, who's currently serving a prison sentence for his acts. Even while he was under investigation for fraud related to the failed festival, he moved on to starting another scheme related to ticket scamming. There are two related documentaries that recently came out - one on Hulu and the other on Netflix - that are worth the watch if you're interested.
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#17I doubt it's news to many here, but Bad Blood is an amazing book on Theranos. It doesn't follow as far as the deposition (I had no idea she was facing 20 years!) but I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in this story. The audiobook is great too.
Jennifer Lawrence is said to be playing Holmes in the film adaptation.
convenient when an actress who already really looks like the subject, also happens to be an academy award winning actress!
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#18I wonder if her investors ever had her psychiatrically evaluated.
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#19> But rather than a follow-up from Holmes, Shultz received an email, obtained by "Nightline," from Sunny Balwani.
> In the email, Balwani wrote in part: "...The reckless comment... based on absolute ignorance is so insulting to me that had any other person made these statements, we would have held them accountable in the strongest way. The only reason I have taken so much time away from work to address this personally is because you are Mr. Shultz’s grandson ... the only email on this topic I want to see from you going forward is an apology."
I hope to have my belief in karma bolstered by the results of the criminal charges against Balwani. So often I've found at some point down the line this kind of stuff catches up with people (if not criminally or financially, at least in happiness).
Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition
#20I doubt it's news to many here, but Bad Blood is an amazing book on Theranos. It doesn't follow as far as the deposition (I had no idea she was facing 20 years!) but I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in this story. The audiobook is great too.
I was listening to an interview with the author and he made a somewhat valid point that it's part of the 'tech culture' to fake it until you make it.
However, at the same time apparently Larry Ellison was advising her. During the early phase of Oracle's history one of their chief criticisms is over-promising on timelines to keep existing customers on their product so that they assumed something was going to ship in 90 days only to ship 1.5 years later.
However, Theranos took this to the edge and just flat out lied about products that they didn't have.
They were promising revolutionary breakthoughs not evolutionary.