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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

#31

Post by iaw »

>Holmes forged ahead but was running out cash... This was in the midst of the Great Recession. ... Holmes found someone to help. In 2009, she got an enormous loan from a former software executive named Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.

> "I think it was about $20 million." Holmes recalled to the SEC in a never-before-aired deposition obtained by "Nightline."

> there was another detail revealed that Holmes had been less forthcoming about: She admitted that she and Balwani had been living together and had engaged in a romantic relationship. It was something she admitted under oath but had kept from investors.

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#32

Post by tguedes »

burtonator wrote: post #20
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #3

I 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 9…

They fooled everyone. Idk if you read the book but they fooled EVERYONE. Their board: included William Perry (former Secretary of Defense), Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), Sam Nunn (former U.S. Senator), Bill Frist (former U.S. Senator and heart-transplant surgeon), Gary Roughead (Admiral, USN, retired), James Mattis (General, USMC), Richard Kovacevich (former Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO) and Riley Bechtel (chairman of the board and former CEO at Bechtel Group). Henry Kissinger was on their board!

Investors: by the Walton family ($150 million), Rupert Murdoch ($121 million), Betsy DeVos ($100 million), the Cox family (of Cox Media Group) ($100 million), and Robert Kraft (of the New England Patriots).

You would figure there was no faking these people out. How do you dupe former Secretary of States and Generals whom are supposed to be some of the most stringent, dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. It's just an amazing story of how personality can change everything and cause people to have massive blindspots.

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#33

Post by SilasX »

dmix wrote: post #24
kodablah wrote: post #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 personall…

If you read the book Bad Blood, Balwani makes Elizabeth look like a fumbling fool by comparison while he's the evil tyrant building a culture of yes-men and firing anyone with the least amount of dissent (and if you didnt work 12hrs/day). But I'm sure they were both nearly equally culpable. You never really get insight on who (of the two) were the main drivers to start the lying and eventual out-right fraud but it wa…

And if she had visited reddit or HN or any one of numerous sites they would have repeated the meme that "no one knows what they're doing anyway, just fake it till you make it", and she would have shrugged and kept on trucking.

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#35

Post by nartz »

How do people think it will play out both tech-culturally and politically if she gets convicted / acquitted?

If convicted, justice would be had but would it send a negative message to entrepreneurs?

If acquitted, might it reinforce the "break things and move fast even if it harms people mentality"?

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#37

Post by amluto »

nartz wrote: post #35

How do people think it will play out both tech-culturally and politically if she gets convicted / acquitted? If convicted, justice would be had but would it send a negative message to entrepreneurs? If acquitted, might it reinforce the "break things and move fast even if it harms people mentality"?

> If convicted, justice would be had but would it send a negative message to entrepreneurs

I would consider a message that entrepreneurs are not above the law to be a positive message.

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#38

Post by sah2ed »

lenticular wrote: post #30
tmp092 wrote: post #26

Having worked in tech for a few years now, it's pretty clear that Holmes is far from the only liar/sociopath/fraudster in the Valley. There's many just like her.

I suspect this wouldn't be as much of a problem in the valley if so many investors and VCs weren't so incapable of critical thinking. The Juicero debacle comes to mind. edit: As someone coming into tech from physical science, I have never seen the Dunning-Krueger effect anywhere like I do in tech. It's mainly in the management, but folks do have a very serious problem accepting expertise from scientists or engineers…

Juicero was more of gross incompetence than fraud. The outcomes were similar, but the root causes are not quite the same.

Re: Theranos CEO Says 'I Don't Know' 600+ Times in Deposition

#39

Post by lenticular »

sah2ed wrote: post #38
lenticular wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this wouldn't be as much of a problem in the valley if so many investors and VCs weren't so incapable of critical thinking. The Juicero debacle comes to mind. edit: As someone coming into tech from physical science, I have never seen the Dunning-Krueger effect anywhere like I do in tech. It's mainly in the management, but folks do have a very serious problem accepting expertise from scientists or engineers…

Juicero was more of gross incompetence than fraud. The outcomes were similar, but the root causes are not quite the same.

Investors should have consulted researchers in the biomedical field before investing. They would have told them that what Theranos was promising is impossible. Everyone who invested in this fraud did not do their due diligence.
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