Elizabeth Holmes exposed: The $9 billion medical ‘miracle’ that never existed | 60 Minutes Australia

Summary

Elizabeth Holmes, once hailed as a revolutionary in the medical field, claimed to have invented a miniaturized blood testing device at 19, promising to detect serious diseases like cancer early. Her company, Theranos, attracted high-profile investors, making her Silicon Valley's first self-made female billionaire. However, the technology was a fraud, putting patients' lives at risk and leading to the downfall of her $9 billion empire. Holmes now faces a criminal trial for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors, with potential jail time of up to 20 years.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos at the age of 19 with the promise of a revolutionary blood testing device that could detect diseases like cancer with a single drop of blood.
• 💡 The invention was touted as a preventative healthcare breakthrough, aiming to make blood tests accessible and affordable through devices available at supermarkets and pharmacies.
• 🌟 High-profile investors, attracted by the promise of revolutionizing healthcare and Holmes' charisma, poured nearly a billion dollars into Theranos, making Holmes the first self-made female billionaire in Silicon Valley.
• 🔍 The reality behind the scenes was that the Theranos technology was non-existent and the company was using modified traditional blood analyzers, leading to inaccurate and potentially dangerous test results.
• 🗣️ Whistleblowers, including former employees, exposed the truth about Theranos' faulty technology, risking their careers to alert regulators and the public about the health risks involved.
• 📉 The downfall of Theranos was triggered by investigative journalism, particularly by John Carreyrou from The Wall Street Journal, who uncovered the company's fraudulent activities.
• 💔 The consequences of Theranos' fraudulent operations were severe, with patients receiving false test results that could have led to misdiagnoses and inappropriate treatments.
• 🏥 Despite the hype, Theranos' technology was never validated scientifically, and the company's board, filled with high-profile figures, failed to provide adequate oversight.
• 📉 The company's value plummeted from a peak of $9 billion to essentially zero, and Theranos was forced to shut down its laboratories by regulators.
• 🔑 Elizabeth Holmes and her former COO, Sunny Balwani, are facing criminal charges for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors, with potential prison sentences of up to 20 years if convicted.

Q & A

What was Elizabeth Holmes' claim to fame at the age of 19?

Elizabeth Holmes claimed to have invented a miniaturized machine that could map our health with a single drop of blood, promising the early detection and prevention of serious diseases like cancer.

What was the allure of Theranos for investors and the public?

Theranos promised a revolutionary blood testing device that could run hundreds of tests with a single finger prick, offering faster, cheaper, and more accessible health diagnostics, which attracted high-profile investors and made Holmes a billionaire.

How did Elizabeth Holmes position herself in the tech industry?

Holmes was portrayed as a visionary entrepreneur, often compared to Steve Jobs, and was celebrated as Silicon Valley's first self-made female billionaire, wearing black turtlenecks and selling a narrative of innovation and empowerment.

What were the actual capabilities of the Theranos technology?

The technology was a fraud; the so-called revolutionary device did not work as claimed. Theranos was secretly using traditional blood analyzers and diluting finger-prick blood samples, leading to unreliable and potentially dangerous test results.

What role did the board of Theranos play in the company's rise?

The board of Theranos included high-profile figures like former U.S. cabinet secretaries and military officials, which lent credibility to the company and helped attract investors, despite having no direct expertise in medical advancements.

How did the media and public figures contribute to the Theranos hype?

Media and public figures contributed to the Theranos hype by celebrating Elizabeth Holmes as a visionary and a new icon in the tech industry, often focusing on her image as a young, female entrepreneur rather than the actual scientific merits of her claims.

What were the consequences of Theranos' fraudulent activities for patients?

The fraudulent activities put patients' health at serious risk, as they received inaccurate blood test results that could lead to wrong diagnoses, unnecessary treatments, or failure to detect actual diseases.

What actions were taken by whistleblowers to expose Theranos?

Whistleblowers, including former employees, alerted regulators and the media about the inaccuracies and deceptions within Theranos, leading to investigations and the eventual downfall of the company.

What legal actions have been taken against Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos?

Theranos was shut down by regulators, and Elizabeth Holmes and her ex-boyfriend Sunny Balwani face criminal charges for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors, with potential jail sentences of up to 20 years if convicted.

How has the Theranos scandal impacted the perception of Silicon Valley's culture?

The scandal has highlighted the culture of hype and exaggeration in Silicon Valley, where the pursuit of billion-dollar startups can overshadow due diligence and the importance of verifying technological claims before investing.

Outlines

00:00

🩺 Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos Scandal

Elizabeth Holmes, once lauded as a revolutionary in the medical field, promised a device that could detect serious diseases like cancer with a single drop of blood. At 19, she founded Theranos, attracting high-profile investors and becoming Silicon Valley's first self-made female billionaire. However, it was revealed that her invention was fraudulent and put patients' lives at risk. The narrative captures the rise and fall of Holmes, from her initial promise to the eventual unmasking of her deception, which could lead to a 20-year prison sentence if convicted.

05:01

🚀 The Theranos Dream and Its Demise

The second paragraph delves into the 'unicorn boom' of 2015, where Theranos was seen as the next big thing in Silicon Valley. It highlights how Elizabeth Holmes captivated investors and the public with her vision of preventive healthcare through a miniaturized blood testing device. The narrative also introduces Erica Chung, a science graduate who joined Theranos but was shocked to discover that the revolutionary device was non-existent and that the company was using a faulty prototype, putting public health at risk.

10:01

🏛️ The All-Star Board and Investor Deception

This section discusses how Elizabeth Holmes assembled an impressive board of high-profile figures, including former U.S. cabinet secretaries and military officials, to lend credibility to Theranos. It also touches on the substantial investments made by individuals like Rupert Murdoch, who saw potential in the company despite the lack of evidence supporting its claims. The narrative critiques the Silicon Valley culture that allowed Holmes to deceive investors and the public.

15:04

🔬 The Infeasibility of Theranos' Technology

The fourth paragraph focuses on the scientific implausibility of Theranos' technology. It features medical professionals who were skeptical of Holmes' claims from the start, given the complexity of condensing an entire pathology lab into a small device. The narrative also includes accounts of patients who received misleading test results, highlighting the potential harm caused by Theranos' unreliable technology.

20:07

📉 The Downfall of Theranos and Its Consequences

This section details the unraveling of the Theranos myth as the company's fraudulent practices were exposed. It discusses the use of traditional blood analyzers, the dilution of blood samples, and the subsequent inaccuracy of test results. The narrative also touches on the regulatory actions against Theranos, including the closure of its laboratories and the ban on medical testing, leading to the company's devaluation from a $9 billion valuation to zero.

25:07

⚖️ Legal Repercussions and the Theranos Legacy

The final paragraph outlines the legal consequences faced by Elizabeth Holmes and her former boyfriend, Sunny Balwani, who are now facing a criminal trial for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors. It also reflects on the bravery of whistleblowers like Erica Chung, whose testimonies were crucial in exposing the Theranos fraud. The narrative concludes with the impact of the scandal on Silicon Valley and the broader implications for the healthcare industry.

Keywords

💡Theranos

Theranos was a health technology company founded by Elizabeth Holmes, which claimed to have developed a revolutionary blood testing device that could perform a wide range of tests using just a single drop of blood. The company became a major focus of the video as it unraveled as a fraud, with serious implications for public health and investor confidence. The script mentions Theranos as the central entity around which the narrative of innovation, deception, and downfall revolves.

💡Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes is portrayed as the founder and former CEO of Theranos. She is described in the script as a visionary who promised a medical revolution but was later accused of being a fraudster. Her role in the video is pivotal as it explores her rise to fame as a self-made billionaire and her subsequent fall due to the fraudulent activities of her company.

💡Fraud

Fraud is a repeated theme in the script, referring to the deception and dishonesty involved in the operations of Theranos. The company was accused of falsifying test results and misleading investors and the public about the capabilities of its technology. The term is used to describe the legal and ethical violations that led to the downfall of Theranos and potential legal consequences for Holmes.

💡Blood Testing

Blood testing is a fundamental concept in the video, referring to the medical procedure of analyzing blood samples to diagnose diseases. Theranos claimed to have revolutionized this process with a device that required only a single drop of blood. The script discusses how the company's inaccurate blood tests put patients at risk and how traditional blood testing methods were contrasted with Theranos's fraudulent claims.

💡Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is mentioned as the backdrop where Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes gained prominence. It is known for being a hub of innovation and technology startups, and the video discusses how the culture of hype and exaggeration in Silicon Valley may have contributed to the Theranos saga. The script also touches on how Holmes was initially celebrated as the first self-made female billionaire in the valley.

💡Investors

Investors are a key group highlighted in the script, referring to the individuals and entities that provided financial backing to Theranos based on its promises of a revolutionary blood testing technology. The video discusses how high-profile investors were drawn to the company, leading to significant financial losses when the fraud was uncovered.

💡Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers play a heroic role in the script as individuals who exposed the fraudulent activities within Theranos. Their actions are depicted as crucial in bringing the truth to light and stopping the company from continuing to put patients at risk. The script mentions how these individuals faced intimidation but were driven by a moral obligation to speak out.

💡Regulators

Regulators are government or industry bodies responsible for overseeing and ensuring compliance with laws and standards. In the context of the video, regulators are shown to have taken action against Theranos by closing down its laboratories and banning its medical testing after uncovering widespread fraud. Their role is essential in the narrative as it marks the official recognition and response to Theranos's deceptive practices.

💡Trial

The trial refers to the legal proceedings against Elizabeth Holmes and her former boyfriend and Theranos COO, Sunny Balwani, for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors. The script discusses the trial as a pivotal moment in the Theranos saga, where the consequences of the company's actions are being determined in a court of law, with potential jail sentences for those found guilty.

💡Health Technology

Health technology is a broad term that encompasses the use of technology in healthcare to improve patient outcomes and streamline medical processes. In the video, the promise of Theranos's health technology is contrasted with the reality of its undelivered and potentially dangerous products. The script uses this term to discuss the potential and pitfalls of innovation in the healthcare sector.

Highlights

Elizabeth Holmes claimed to have invented a miniaturized machine that could map our health with a single drop of blood.

Her company, Theranos, attracted high-profile investors and made Holmes Silicon Valley's first self-made female billionaire.

Theranos' technology promised to prevent serious diseases like cancer before they happened.

The miniaturized testing device was supposed to deliver faster, cheaper, and more reliable blood test results.

Despite the hype, the technology was later exposed as an invention that didn't work.

Elizabeth Holmes is accused of being a fraudster who risked people's lives and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Theranos' technology was supposed to enable frequent blood tests to build personal health profiles.

Whistleblowers exposed that Theranos was using a jerry-rigged version of the machine, producing false or misleading results.

Investigative journalist John Carreyrou from the Wall Street Journal was instrumental in exposing the Theranos fraud.

Theranos' board included high-profile figures like George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, adding credibility to the company.

Investors in Theranos lost nearly a billion dollars when the company's value plummeted.

Theranos was secretly using traditional blood analyzers and diluting blood samples, leading to unreliable results.

The company's downfall was due to massive fraud that put patients in serious jeopardy.

Elizabeth Holmes and her ex-boyfriend Sunny Balwani face a criminal trial for defrauding investors, patients, and doctors.

Theranos was once valued at nine billion dollars but is now worth zero after the fraud was exposed.

Whistleblowers like Erica Chung played a crucial role in uncovering the truth about Theranos.

The story of Theranos serves as a commentary on Silicon Valley's culture of hype and exaggeration.

Transcripts

elizabeth holmes promised the world a

medical revolution

at 19 she claimed to have invented a

miniaturized machine that with a single

drop of blood could map our health

her boast was serious diseases like

cancer would be prevented before they

happened

and it was not only a wow moment for

patients

high-profile investors poured a fortune

into elizabeth holmes company theranos

their money guaranteed she became

silicon valley's first self-made female

billionaire

but her invention was an invention it

didn't work

elizabeth holmes is no visionary she's a

fraudster who's risked people's lives

and if convicted faces 20 years

it's finding what you're born to do

when you really give everything to that

then you can realize great things

holmes was making the greatest promise

of all that she could save lives through

a revolutionary blood testing device she

had created

and which she would make available to

all through supermarkets and pharmacies

theranose

means being able to see

the onset of disease

in time to be able to do something about

it

i'd like to welcome elizabeth holmes the

real treat the incredible elizabeth

holmes

[Music]

california's silicon valley and some of

the richest people in the world bought

the dream there are people in this world

who revolutionize our lives coco chanel

steve jobs bill gates walt disney and

elizabeth holmes mark my words

turning theranos into a staggering 9

billion juggernaut and making homes the

tech valley's first self-made female

billionaire

you founded this company 12 years ago

right tell them how old you were i was

19.

celebrity commentators and cashed up

investors couldn't get enough of this

new kid on the block in silicon valley

she was the new darling and a lot of

that was because she was a woman

entrepreneur which is a very popular

thing it's been a man's world you know

for so long

she would wear black turtlenecks like

steve jobs

and sold her little tail

and everybody bought it for a while

the revolution promised by elizabeth

holmes was to put preventative health

care at our fingertips quite literally

all it would take would be one tiny drop

of blood from a finger prick

from which to run hundreds of blood

tests using a groundbreaking

miniaturized testing device which would

deliver more reliable faster and cheaper

results

people don't like big needles being

stuck into their arm yeah

part of it you're one of those people

right deeply so

elizabeth's machine would wipe out the

traditional way of doing things

larger volumes of blood drawn from the

arm by big needles and costly and

time-consuming lab analysis

the mission was to enable everyone to

get blood tests as frequently as once a

month to build a personal health profile

and to catch diseases like cancer at

their earliest people don't even know

that they have

a basic human right to be able to get

access to

information about themselves

and their own bodies that can

change their lives

but as whistleblowers would expose the

elizabeth holmes revolution turned out

to be an extraordinary fraud

a lie that put lives in jeopardy were

you ever asked to falsify data or

destroy data oh just just get rid of

these tests that you've run wiped out

nearly a billion dollars of investors

money there was no money to be had it

all just evaporated any comment at all

to the investors and may well end with

homes behind bars for up to 20 years

come her fraud trial later this month

as far as please raise your right hand

do you swear to tell the truth the whole

truth and nothing but the truth i do how

would you describe the rise and rise and

then the fall of elizabeth holmes well i

think it is a commentary on silicon

valley's culture there's so much hyping

so much exaggerating in this culture

that you know young entrepreneurs

are

basically bred to to behave this way

and as investigative journalist john

carraroo found there were plenty of

people in the room willing to drink the

kool-aid all hoping to crack the unicorn

club the billion dollar startups

emerging in silicon valley at the time

this was the unicorn boom

and this was 2015 and

things were getting really frothy in

silicon valley and uh people didn't want

to miss the next facebook and a lot of

people wanted it to get on board this

next rocket to uh to riches when

she first interviewed me i have to say i

was a bit starstruck

science graduate erica chung was not out

to get rich she just wanted a job

and theranos with ernest elizabeth

holmes at the helm was the dream pick

i was really enthusiastic as sort of a

young scientist to

to work for a company that seemed to

have a compelling vision and

a strong leader who seemed to back it as

well

[Music]

but erica was shocked to find the

theranos dream was in fact a fairy tale

peddled by holmes and chief operating

officer ramesh sunny balwani elizabeth's

boyfriend at the time

for all the excitement the little black

box simply did not work

it could not do what the pair claimed

the reality of working at theranos was

that

a lot of the things that were being said

about the company were not actually what

was going on behind closed doors this

new revolutionary device it wasn't

actually

in existence it hadn't quite been built

yet worse they were using a jerry-rigged

version of the machine to run patients

blood tests

the results were often false or

misleading but this too was hidden from

an unsuspecting public despite the

significant health risks

i just wanted people to know that they

were leveraging this faulty device to

test on patients and that needed to be

stopped

rumors of theranos bad practice were

circulating

but it was journalist john kariu from

the wall street journal who would be the

first to start investigating after a

tip-off from a skeptical pathologist

things you know began to come into focus

for me and and i realized that you know

this was not just a a

business fraud and a corporate fraud but

potentially a fraud that had big

implications for the public health and

so i thought well

this is a big story for all the hope and

hype elizabeth holmes was now accused of

being a fake but as it would become

clear the consequences of her fraud were

real and dangerous

this is inexcusable now and forever

the remarkable story of healthcare

startup company theranos and its founder

elizabeth holmes starts at stanford

university in 2003.

this used to be my advisor's office

we got in

[Music]

at just 19 and after just two semesters

studying chemical engineering

holmes dropped out of university to

become a medical technology entrepreneur

another few

classes

in chemical engineering was not

necessary for what i wanted to do

one of the first to hear her future

business plans was stanford university

professor of medicine dr phyllis gardner

unlike most who encountered homes dr

gardner was not impressed

did elizabeth holmes always have big

dreams in your opinion

absolutely

her ambition was over the top

and unfortunately the person who twice

introduced her to me said she's just

brilliant and she's brilliant and when

you're surrounded by nobel laureates you

take that with a grain of salt

a boulder of salt

she had no knowledge of medicine and a

rudimentary knowledge of engineering and

she was 19.

and she really didn't want any expertise

she thought she knew at all

well you don't at 19 i'm sorry

but right from the start elizabeth

holmes knew the power of pr

i believe

the individual

is the answer

to the challenges of health care

she didn't bother proving her so-called

groundbreaking blood testing device

could do all she promised through peer

reviews or releasing extensive data

let's take these tests and

make them accessible

instead she gathered a war council to

her board reveling in their fame and

credibility so it includes three former

u.s cabinet secretaries two former u.s

senators a retired navy admiral and a

retired marine corps general including

george schultz henry kissinger how

did you make that happen

the board was george schultz

jim mattis henry kissinger and a bunch

of four star generals and someone said

this is like a board that's going to

take over the world

and uh but what does it have to do with

medical advancements nothing

and so

everyone was duped silicon valley really

had egg on its face

over this thing

but initially like so many small time

investor eileen lepro was impressed

after she was advised to sink a

hard-earned 100 000

into

was there something about the nature of

what elizabeth holmes was hoping to do

promising to do that attracted you to

this type of investment was there

anything altruistic about it not for me

i was looking to make money but i worked

for a venture capitalist at the time and

um

he

said it would be

equivalent to apple

and to get as many shares as i could

no matter there was no evidence the

money flowing into theranos was huge

almost a billion dollars

at one time rupert murdoch was the

single biggest investor

buying 125 million dollars worth of

shares

coincidentally as the proprietor of the

wall street journal he was also

investigative journalist john kararu's

boss at the time kararu exposed holmes's

spin as captioning not

available and mostly he's been right uh

as for the other investors certainly you

know

they should have done more due diligence

i think it was a deliberate choice of

elizabeth's

to focus on uh what i would call

uncharitably the dumb money

the uh billionaires and their family

offices as opposed to the

uh sophisticated silicon valley venture

funds who i don't think they would have

fallen for the same lies what do you

think of the investors who lined up to

to give her nearly a billion dollars

worth of money older white men

right

i'm telling you i've said it brains go

on south they weren't thinking with

their brains it's what you're saying

uh-huh

[Laughter]

i don't know and they believed her and

she could be charming

she could be i'm sure it just didn't

charm me but she could be charming to

older men

giving people the right to obtain a

laboratory test

will by definition

begin the process of enabling them to

engage

in their health it's homes you are

magnificent

with elizabeth's charm offensive in full

flight results back in the lab were

going from bad to worse according to

former lab associate erica chung they

were producing really

wildly

inaccurate and imprecise results on a

consistent basis across many different

types of blood tests

you know tests like

hepatitis c

or your thyroid test or test that would

be predictive of cancer it's telling us

very clearly we need to stop testing

patients every person should have the

ability to get that type of test but

elizabeth was not listening desperate

for her technology to catch up with her

vision your health is really important

to us as a kid of all those taken in by

the theranosmania

it would be patients who had the most to

lose because nothing is more important

than the health of those you love

it was just a big fraud

and if you can perpetrate a fraud smile

about it go to white house dinners

that to me is just no conscience

this notion that she was faking it until

she could make it

do you think that she ever believed

herself

in what she could do possibly

probably i mean it's almost like in

another

fantasy world

an egoism that i can't describe

i don't have that i

i doubt you have that

fake it till you make it excuse me on

patience

i don't think so

what is your view of that that they're

happy to to go live

with a system that's still being tested

and is actually failing yeah it's

unconscionable it's unethical

it's immoral as you know all the words

you can think about to describe that

and in australia why the elizabeth

holmes miniature black box was never

going to work she could never do what

she claimed she could do

founder and ceo of startup company

theranos elizabeth holmes was promising

to make possible the impossible in the

name of preventative medicine

the issue comes that she tried to

essentially take an entire pathology lab

and squish it into a little black box

and promised to be able to do all those

tests all the time for people

and

it takes years and years to develop a

single one of those tests up to the

standard where it can be accurate so it

was

ambitious doesn't quite capture it but

it was incredibly ambitious

medical scientist dr darren saunders

from sydney university has keenly

followed the rise of elizabeth holmes

and her promise that this mini lab could

run hundreds of blood tests of just one

drop of blood

his expertise in the field made him

incredulous right from the start

over the last 11 years we've

reinvented

the traditional laboratory

infrastructure it's quite a weird thing

to watch happen because you feel like

shouting the emperor's not wearing any

clothes right and as a scientist it was

i think frustrating is the word i'd use

incredibly frustrating because you felt

like taking these people aside and going

look there's nothing going on here why

are you spending so much money on

something that there's there's no proof

that it exists

that was the phrase i always used it was

exactly that the emperor has no clothes

and

that is the perfect

metaphor for what it was like

across the world dr phyllis gardner was

equally disturbed

as a professor at stanford university

she knew elizabeth holmes as a student

there up until that point the way that

they had had to draw

before she famously dropped out and

acquired the steve jobs attire i'm so

dehumanizing that

um

it's an incredibly emotional process so

and before her voice changed

well it's wonderful to be here

i started this company because

what about the deep voice did you have

the deep voice when you were dealing

with no i was shocked when i heard a

voice

because i didn't matter before

i certainly that is a voice you don't

forget

in a woman

oh

[Music]

hello

yes

the rate to protect

the health

and well-being carefully crafted or

otherwise corporations were lining up to

embrace elizabeth holmes

her success was sealed when in 2013

in a multi-million dollar deal theranos

was launched in pharmacy chain walgreens

we have

an operational plan that will allow us

to become within

five miles of every person's home

through the walgreens that we've opened

and are continuing to open nationally

it was all about access and ease

customers could get an in-store blood

test off a simple finger prick which

would cost next to nothing

they'd even get their results back

within four hours

that was the promise

the truth was another matter according

to former theranos lab associate erica

chong

you know this thing that was supposed to

be five would all even all of a sudden

show up to be 60 and then you would run

it and it would show up to be you know

four and it was just the degree of inner

accuracy was just way too high

to be acceptable to start running on on

patients so i got my thera nose test

done on like 29th of july and then 31st

of july i got

a test done by another lab

and it was different

unaware of the wildly unreliable results

pallav schader himself a

physician-turned-medical technology

entrepreneur

went to walgreens for a theranos blood

test

the results were surprisingly bad for

this health-conscious medico

they showed he was pre-diabetic

luckily pallav's own doctor was

suspicious of the diagnosis and ordered

another blood test from another lab

that was the moment when i felt cheated

because i

there was a little bit of a pride hurt

because i'm from the industry

if you had not got a second opinion a

second test what course of action would

you have taken at age

35 i would have been

started on anti-diabetic medication

and

no medication is

it comes without side effects so

i

i

i get emotional thinking about

how

big a deal it was for me if you followed

the theronos

model

you would have been on medication for a

disease you don't have yes

absolutely

this is inexcusable

now and forever

was it a fact that there were illnesses

that might not have been picked up that

the people who might have been suffering

from

life-threatening diseases and they just

didn't know it because they got a false

result yeah the devices were so

unreliable that you really couldn't

trust it with any test

the groundbreaking theranos technology

was a charade

instead theranos was secretly using

traditional commercially available blood

analyzers

because those machines require larger

amounts of blood to run their tests

staff were ordered to dilute the small

blood samples collected by finger prick

rendering those results unsafe

they were doing the tests on standard

equipment and they were diluting the

blood which

invalidates a lot of the results

so

i knew there was fraud going on and i

from very early on

but still the marketing myth continued

and you make a decision to do something

you do it and that's it a previously

non-existent lab was created filled with

as many of the black boxes the company

could find

then vice president joe biden was

invited to inspect this is sort of the

laboratory of the future unaware the

devices didn't work and that he along

with the world was being conned

to learn that she created a fake lab

to

show joe biden i mean what an audacious

act of deception well she was audacious

i would grant you that

and everything she did i do think

there's some

this is my opinion that there's some

sociopathy involved

and the ability to

lie

and

without caring is not normal

from my perspective

as a medical doctor she was trying

uh to uh over promise and then hope that

her engineers and her biochemists would

catch up

and that when they eventually did and

that her machine worked no one would be

the wiser the problem is she was nowhere

near already

elizabeth holmes was revered as the

superwoman scientist come to rescue and

revolutionize the u.s health system

but the true heroes of the theronos tale

are the courageous whistleblowers who

helped investigative journalist john

kararu from the wall street journal

exposed the sham

of their testimonies he went on to write

the award-winning bad blood and is

hosting a podcast called bad blood the

final chapter

these are people who wanted to do good

these are people who couldn't sleep at

night because they were worried that

patients were relying on on false

results right did that strike you as

well they couldn't in good conscience

continue uh

to not say anything they felt the need

to speak up

and they felt that lives were in danger

and that the longer this went on

the worse it would get

erica chung was one such hero

when her concerns were ignored by

theranos she left in disgust but still

feared for its customers

erica alerted regulators to what was

going on behind closed doors you were

being extraordinarily brave yes you

clearly felt compelled to get someone

else's

even though it was scary and it was

nerve-wracking and at that time

theranose was

at least threatening to sue me and they

were following me to sort of intimidate

me and to not speak up against them

it's just that they needed to stop doing

this thing right they needed to stop

testing on patients

and that the truth needed to be

uncovered

this is what happens when you work to

change things and

first they think you're crazy then they

fight you and then all of a sudden you

change the world

elizabeth holmes came out fighting but

regulators acted against her

closing down theranos laboratories and

banning medical testing after they found

massive fraud that put patients in

serious jeopardy

the company once valued at nine billion

dollars was now worth zero

and that was good right like the mission

was finally accomplished by that point i

was able to

finally sleep at night and and realize

that

you know my my work was done

in further legal action elizabeth and

ex-boyfriend sunny balwani are now in

the midst of a delayed criminal trial

for defrauding investors patients and

doctors and could be jailed for up to 20

years if convicted

holmes trial has been pushed back to the

end of this month

first by covert and then news she was

expecting her first child a son who was

born in july

to get pregnant

when you're

undergoing a trial

is the height

of irresponsibility in my mind

what about the baby well do you think

this was a planned pregnancy or do you

think it was

an accident i definitely think it was

i mean i was predicting it because it's

the best way to garner sympathy

to try to keep yourself out of prison

i think she needs to go to prison for a

while

i think 25 years sounds good

those closest to the theranos dream

including investor eileen lipra still

believe elizabeth holmes should face the

harshest sanctions

because beyond money

so much was at stake

everybody knows it was all a sham

so

why would you get a slap on the wrist

you know if it was just money that's one

thing but it's it's people's lives their

medical situations

that's not okay with anybody

hello i'm tara brown thanks for watching

60 minutes australia

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