The Fall of Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes was widely praised as the world's youngest female self made billionaire. But the respect this gained her could only last so long. Her blood testing company, Theranos, was built on lies. It's revolutionary technology was eventually revealed to be fundamentally flawed. It didn't do what she claimed it did. This revelation destroyed the reputation of Theranos and caused it's own investors and business partners to take legal action against it. Elizabeth Holmes was charged with fraud and her personal net worth fell to nothing. It's the most spectacular demise of a company since Enron. This is how it unfolded.

[christosandrews]

Is it just me, or does it sound like he’s saying "ferenus" instead of "Theranos"?

[ckom]

“She seems like a movie character...” Yep, that voice, those eyes, that manner of dress, the preoccupation with blood...she’s Count Dracula!

[marcusyakira]

She pulled off the Tech World's equivalent of a Ponzi scheme. Reminds me of Bernie Madoff.

[seanwebb]

When you can crowd fund a potato salad, you can raise billions for a technology firm that promises a product the reduces the cost of routine blood tests. People love to be fooled this way. They want to believe that complex processes and problems can be reduced to a simple, inexpensive solution with little or no effort. She told investors the lie that they already wanted to believe.

[foodparadise]

All of that with no prison WTF? You go steal a piece of candy from a store and you are jailed in no time...

[lilfandengo]

Her father was a VP for Enron. (Christian Holmes IV) Fraud runs in her blood line. (No pun intended)

[martinhughes]

0:59 “technology she developed herself.” That’s the bottom line right there. She’s not a scientist; she never worked in the industry; she didn’t develop anything. And the fact that she didn’t have a single scientist on her board should have been a red flag! Those people who invested $100 million did so without properly investigating what they were investing in.

[PimpMatt]

She looks like Chelsea Clinton and a mixture of Zucc. Half ghoul, half lizard.

[bronxgurl]

You need to update, Holmes and her CFO who is also her former boyfriend are awaiting a criminal trial. Theranos has been shut down.

[llyg]

She didn’t come from nothing, her dad is a millionaire

[prometheus]

She should create a bogus system that fixes bug-eyes

[spreadeagled]

The only innovation she has accomplished is to speak and act so convincingly to deceive and defraud people of over 700 million dollars! She deserves an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress!

[christendenise]

Hell, I couldn't even get out of bed before 2pm at age 19...The girl's got balls...

[edcotterjr]

All true and she was a monster to work for. That as much as anything else makes her a bad person. I feel for all the honest people who worked there and are now airbrushing their resumes so none of this rubs off on them. Oh yeah, also the people who were hurt by the bad/phony test results. Really vile stuff. The investors failed to do their homework and her board of all stars failed to do the basics- no sympathy for them.

[Xanadu]

Why do you pronounce Theranos as Ferminus??

[proletariatwatch]

Nicely done video. Perhaps putting a mouse picture comparison would have been excellent to prove your point.

[Wardner]

I'd never invest in a company run by someone with narrow set eyes...

[nameredacted]

Her hair kills me, I just want to take some scissors and clip off all those broken off ends and give it a style. It needs moisture so bad 😩

[wickandde]

Imagine if she actually invested in making that technology work? Because the core idea behind it is still actually pretty good. How different she'd be remembered then rather than a criminal and a fraud. She needs to be in jail though no question about that.

[felipefc]

My theory is that she was just an actor paid to play a role while a bigger fish profited from the whole operations. At the end she was caught and disposed while the real mind behind it is still free and untouched.