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Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

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Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#961

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you know they only ever got Al Capone on tax evasion? Would you draw a similar conclusion in that case, or maybe did the effort put into pinning Capone on tax evasion have more to do with how he was running a murderous criminal organization for many years?

Isn’t Al Capone’s tax evasion conviction usually mentioned as a bit of a joke? I don’t see how anyone can cite it as an example of the system working perfectly fine . Ignoring for a moment that this was in a very different era, to me, there are only two possible conclusions from this: (a) The conviction was legitimate. This means that if only he had been a bit more thorough about laundering his money, he’d have gotte…

You think the state imprisoning a crime boss is frightening?

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#962
post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strawman. He's not advocating perfect justice. He raises awareness to something that I also found gut wrenching when reading the article: investors (super rich) mattered, commoners did not. Calling that "pragmatic prosecutors made pragmatic decisions"... Well. You do you.

You're making the assumption that Holmes wronged "commoners" with malicious intent. As far as anyone can tell, this is just an allegation. So either: 1. you have incredible insight into the inner workings of the company. 2. you're joining an online pitchforking mob. As much as I rejoice seeing a Silicon Valley poster child be exposed as a phony and a fraud, I would be very careful before jumping to conclusions and as…

> You're making the assumption that Holmes wronged "commoners" with malicious intent.

Nope. I take from the text that prosecutors-and-or-law-itself defend the interests of super rich better than the interests/well-being of commoners.

> I would be very careful before jumping to conclusions and asserting with high confidence that the court verdict is flawed.

Good for you. I'm not saying it is flawed, neither am I passing judgement on who's guilty... I'm saying it seems the whole system is favoring the some over others.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#963
post #786

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do feel sorry for her in a way. She was riding a treadmill of expectations. Started off slowly, probably thinking "yeah, we can do this" and by the time the treadmill was moving at light speed, it was too late to get off. Even TED has removed her talk from YouTube. What responsibility do the media bear when their shallow hype turns out to be false and damaging to all parties?

> Even TED has removed her talk from YouTube. Why? I would add a disclaimer that they don't endorse it and maybe a link to the ruling but at this point it's an historical document.

They care more about their brand than preserving history.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#965
post #786

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do feel sorry for her in a way. She was riding a treadmill of expectations. Started off slowly, probably thinking "yeah, we can do this" and by the time the treadmill was moving at light speed, it was too late to get off. Even TED has removed her talk from YouTube. What responsibility do the media bear when their shallow hype turns out to be false and damaging to all parties?

Her story arc is much like Bernie Madoff's. He, too, only really hurt wealthy investors. But did anyone feel bad for him?

I felt bad for his family.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#966

I'm loving reading through all of the sickening puff pieces that business/tech journalists put out about her and Theranos. It's funny to think back to 2015 and the hagiographical void still left in tech journo hearts after Steve Jobs died. https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-i... > How Elizabeth Holmes Became America's New Entrepreneurial Icon > She represents the part of entrepreneurship that…

Gell-Man Amnesia Effect in full effect. Will we remember when we read the next PR piece/pump and dump disguised as journalism?

No of course not, we as a society do not learn from history very well. It's not like this woman is the first con man ever to defraud investors. And she won't be the last.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#967

Ironic that her board of directors-- one of the most praised aspects of Theranos-- probably hurt her when it came to going after her with criminal charges. These were some of the most well-connected people in the country, and making them look like fools did her no favors. Once it was clear this wouldn't go away quietly, I'd bet they pushed hard to ensure criminal prosecution. (which I think she deserved anyway.) Espe…

Holme's parents are very connected with regards to the federal government. Her father was a VP at Enron, CFO of the EPA, Director of US Trade and Development Agency, etc.

Her mother worked as a lobbyist and at one point was a Congressional staffer.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#968

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking that it would make for a cool EvilCorp in a game story

Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos will likely be parodied. Hell, make a parody of her as a villain for Far Cry 7. Or if GTA VI really is in development, I bet a character like her will be featured somewhere.

I already got Fallout 4 Institute vibes back then when I started reading about the criminal mishaps

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#969
post #789

I'm loving reading through all of the sickening puff pieces that business/tech journalists put out about her and Theranos. It's funny to think back to 2015 and the hagiographical void still left in tech journo hearts after Steve Jobs died. https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-i... > How Elizabeth Holmes Became America's New Entrepreneurial Icon > She represents the part of entrepreneurship that…

> She only pauses in her work to run — seven miles a day. -- Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, yes that Andreessen, writing in the New York Times Magazine about Visionary Tech Entrepreneurs with, um, no conflict of interest whatsoever I'm sure. Turns out Palantir's Alex Karp was also "harnessing goodness through technology." No idea how she missed Adam Neumann. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/12/t-magazine/el..…

This reads like a PR release:

> By breaking down barriers to testing, she’s paving the way for a scalable approach to early diagnosis and therefore lower-cost, less invasive treatments. And by standing up to lawmakers and entities with vested interests for individuals’ fundamental right to access their health care information, Holmes may be doing more than running one of the world’s most successful start-ups — she may be starting a movement to change the health care paradigm as we know it.

Re: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty

#970
post #777

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going through a health tech startup incubator at the time, and it became a bit of a meme where we'd poke fun at anyone who bought into Theranos. Some went as far as putting together a slide deck to debunk the claims about running labs on such tiny volumes of blood. This was when and where I learned about the heterogeneity of blood.

It was an obvious farce. If they had real tech they could have simply done a million comparative tests on the military/VA or at free clinics and showed the relative accuracy.

Yeah it was surprising that so many people with health care backgrounds fell for it.
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