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Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

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Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#311

Post by BinaryIdiot »

hluska wrote: post #70
briandear wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So she can’t be a director of a public company? Other than Yahoo, who would even consider hiring her? This “punishment” doesn’t seem like one. She should be in jail.

I don't know if I agree with you. Personally, I can't imagine the humiliation of carrying this around with me...

Everyone loves a comeback story, though. In a few years she'll take the circuit of podcasts / news outlets.

"I thought we could do it. It started with a single, tiny lie and then it snowballed. I get out of control. I took some time off and now I'm starting my own company. We will be the most transparent company in the world and we're innovating X!"

Something along those lines. It's not a life or career ender IMO.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#312

Post by danso »

I hadn't seen this before, or if I had, I've forgotten, but Theranos created an account on HN to post to the "Who is hiring?" threads

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Theranos

First message was May 5, 2014

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7701095

> Visit a lab for a Doctors appointment recently? Two vials of blood is a lot isn't it? Theranos is looking to completely redefine healthcare by solving speed and accuracy issues of current lab testing by combining SW engineering and life sciences using 1/1000 less blood than what is typically drawn today; our process have results in Doctors’ hands in as little as 2 hours allowing them to provide significantly more accurate treatments in a timely manner.

The first time someone replied:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8401792

> I was rather disappointed that the site doesn't say much about the underlying assay technologies you're using.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#313

Post by BinaryIdiot »

DannyBee wrote: post #62

People keep complaining about lack of jail time. As has been repeated in a number of subcomments: The SEC cannot send people to jail. Full stop. They have only civil authority. They refer criminal cases to the US attorneys/DOJ, and offer assistance. All evidence suggests they did so here. The decision to criminally prosecute or not is out of their hands.

> All evidence suggests they did so here.

What evidence? I have flipped through the SEC filing and some news articles and I don't see anything about it being referred to the DOJ.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#314

Post by DoreenMichele »

googlryas wrote: post #306
DoreenMichele wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schadenfreude is a word commonly used in discussion of the Theranos debacle and it really aggravates me because it presumes that anyone not throwing a pity party for these pathological liars defrauding people of money and potentially putting lives at stake with their bullshit tests that don't work are somehow bad people with negative personality traits. No, Holmes and her people are bad people with negative personali…

Why do you think schadenfreude is a negative personality trait or a personality disorder? It is just a name for a specific emotional state. It seems perfectly apt here.

It means taking joy in someone else's suffering, which is basically sadism. I don't see that as being the same thing as being happy to see the truth come out and justice finally happen.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#315

Post by utborin »

ascendantlogic wrote: post #283
heliodor wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My interpretation is that most startups don't deal with life-or-death lines of work, whereas Theranos does. There's no room for "creative" business practices there. The government will take note at some point and come chasing.

Yes, if you want to lie about some drone-based burrito delivery service you're probably not gonna draw the same ire as life-saving medical equipment. Although if you swindle investors for over $700 million in either case I imagine the SEC will be knocking at your door eventually.

> if you want to lie about some drone-based burrito delivery service

I wouldn't suggest lying about anything in the aviation sector either.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#316

Post by mnemonicsloth »

anigbrowl wrote: post #287
vasilipupkin wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no. people are better off with a quick resolution because professional attorneys at the SEC decided that the legal case against Holmes is not strong enough to waste taxpayer money trying to PROVE she committed a crime. Calling their decision into question without a shred of evidence that they did something suboptimal, based on your political beliefs alone, is what I am advocating against. EDIT: Which part of this sta…

Actually I'm relying on the SEC's statement that she was an active participant in a large multi-year fraud. True, I've always thought Theranos was Too Good To Be True and had doubt about la Holmes' probity. But I think you're getting downvoted because you're arguing that white collar crime, even at scale, isn't worth prosecuting, and ignoring the perverse incentives that result from such decision-making.

It isn't just white-collar crime. The justice system isn't equipped to prosecute any crimes at scale. That's why prosecutors rely on plea bargains (and their over-broad, under-scrutinized powers in negotiating same) for the vast majority of cases. The courtroom is for the small minority who can afford representation and are willing to risk a very bad outcome.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#317

Post by hacknat »

googlryas wrote: post #300
hacknat wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shkreli had an ongoing fraud and sec violations before Turing Pharma. Though it looks suspicious, his prosecution is coincidental with the Turing stuff and revolves around the truly atrocious management of his hedge fund. Shkreli deserves what he got, but not because of his public bravado or raising the price of a drug, but because he actively embezzled money and created a Ponzi scheme.

Was it a Ponzi scheme? I've read that he basically lost his investors money in a real investment failure, and then 'donated' some of his shares from his other, unrelated company to make the investors a profit and look good.

That’s a Ponzi scheme.

Re: Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud

#318

Post by JangoSteve »

googlryas wrote: post #306
DoreenMichele wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schadenfreude is a word commonly used in discussion of the Theranos debacle and it really aggravates me because it presumes that anyone not throwing a pity party for these pathological liars defrauding people of money and potentially putting lives at stake with their bullshit tests that don't work are somehow bad people with negative personality traits. No, Holmes and her people are bad people with negative personali…

Why do you think schadenfreude is a negative personality trait or a personality disorder? It is just a name for a specific emotional state. It seems perfectly apt here.

Schadenfreude is when you take satisfaction in someone else's misfortune. I think what the parent comment is saying here is that many of those who are satisfied with the Theranos outcomes aren't satisfied because they take delight in the leaderships' misfortunes; they're satisfied because they take delight in finding out they were right, that they weren't crazy to think that the promises of Theranos didn't make sense, and that there are consequences to the kind of fraud that seems to get some people ahead.
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