Theranos: A Timeline of One of the biggest Frauds in History
She got sentenced to 11.25 years for Fraud
TL;DR Don’t believe the hype of any business. The scary part is, only a small percentage of these businesses get caught, so using Holmes as an example might keep others from getting involved in fraud.
What was Theranos?
Theranos technology would use way less blood for blood tests making it more available and cost-effective.
Why didn’t it work?
Blood Tests need a larger sample to be accurate and the machine Theranos sold was too small. Many components inside were too close together, which meant they interfered with each other, making readings inaccurate.
The Timeline of Theranos:
1984: Elizabeth Holmes is Born - Her father was literally a VP at Enron
2003: Elizabeth Founded her first company, “ Real Time Cures” later changed to Theranos
2004: Elizabeth Drop out of Stanford at age 19 to work on Theranos. She pitched her medicine professor and his peers, and they said this idea was impossible. Then She pitched ‘tech people?’ and by December she had raised $6 Million Loaves of bread.
2009: Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani Joins as COO - years later this seems to be a very toxic and
2010: $92 Million raised at this point, still no working product (I imagine this is when the Fraud becomes apparent)
2011: Their Board is STACKED with politicians (sus?)
2013: Launched in Walgreens and CVS…still doesn’t work….in fact blood results comeback inaccurate, and gave REAL PATIENTS, FALSE RESULTS.
For Example the blood work shows you have cancer and you don’t have cancer. Pretty bad right? Get’s Worse.
2014: Worlds Youngest, SELF-MADE Billionaire…Valued at $9 billlion dollars, still doesn’t work, lied about $100,000,000 in revenue when actually revenue was $100,000 - Excuse me while I go throw up
They also raised $400 million at this point
2015 - starts to go downhill after she gets involved with the Democrats (Obama and Clintons) FDA Approved… for something that gives false blood results….what?
2016 - 2017 - Holmes Banned by US government to have a lab, people start catching on, Holmes and Sunny still denied wrong-doing.
2018 - Cat is out of the bag - Theranos lied the whole time - she even lowered her voice.
2021 - Court dates begin for Elizabeth and Sunny
2022 - Elizabeth convicted, 11.25 years in prison starting April 2023 - We’ll see if she actually does any time.