Because this was like an even crazier Fyre Fest, only with people's blood instead of a music festival in the Bahamas.

I barely paid attention to this when it happened, all I knew was it was some Silicon Valley company that was worth billions and then wasn't and was some kind of scam.

This has it ALL:
-Elizabeth Holmes is something else. Seriously, it can't be described, she's like a robot possessed by the spirit of someone who has heard of Steve Jobs, but weirder. She's a different level of unnerving.
-A machine that was going to be in every home in America that you put your blood into and it tells you what diseases you might have, even if it worked WHY WOULD YOU WANT THIS?
-A bunch of retired war criminals and politicians getting very very obviously scammed
-A company promising to revolutionize health care that's total contribution to American health care was giving slightly more people in Arizona syphilis
-The level of sociopathy you need to have in order to successfully run a massive scam never fails to amaze me.

In conclusion, the people we trust with the economy are all old decrepit psychopaths who can be easily manipulated by a young blonde promising them they won't die, capitalism is a sickness.

esp. when big money is involved.

Elizabeth Holmes lowkey got me cookin', though. just off her whole looks/demeanor. Like Zuckerberg but even more hilariously monotone.

>-A bunch of retired war criminals and politicians getting very
>very obviously scammed

I would feel bad about it, but you know what I'm gonna say.

Kissinger and Mattis. Like "if there are any people who deserved it . . ."

Prolly watch it tonight.

Crazy how you walk into a meeting and walk out with millions in funding without any verification the shit works.

I think people don't truly realize how insane/delusional you have to be to make these crazy moon shot ideas work..

Sure Fyre festival was trash.. BUT if that shit worked we would be talking about dude as some exalted genius... same with Elizabeth Holmes

the line between them and the Paypal mafia is sooooo thin.

Because whatever you think about Thernaos.. someone is going to win the blood testing battle..

https://www.fastcompany.com/40574949/like-theranos-but-it-works-health-startup-genalyte-proves-its-worth

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-blood-testing-startups-are-pitching-themselves-after-theranos-scandal-2018-06-22

You can’t just bullshit your way into the bio med industry.i takes years of testing and development to get any legit major medical device to market, and she didn’t seem interested in any of that. You can talk big game when you’re developing a new instant messaging app, but the operating procedure is different when it comes to blood testing. Especially blood testing for “everything.”

And for all her talk of “Innovation” and “changing the world,” the way that she up the company was no way conducive to getting anything done. It was more geared towards getting her the glory and putting her on the cover of Fortune magazine.

The Fyre thing was terrible but it was mostly just a party gone wrong.


This company was lying about blood results.

Top flight scammer

Theranos was fucking w/people's lives and risking their health for profit, based on wholly fraudulent claims and manipulative business practices.

Fyre Fest fucked w/people's money. Definitely shitty but nowhere near the level of what Holmes and Theranos did and could've potentially done to people.


>I think people don't truly realize how insane/delusional you
>have to be to make these crazy moon shot ideas work..
>
>Sure Fyre festival was trash.. BUT if that shit worked we
>would be talking about dude as some exalted genius... same
>with Elizabeth Holmes
>
>the line between them and the Paypal mafia is sooooo thin.
>
>Because whatever you think about Thernaos.. someone is going
>to win the blood testing battle..
>
>https://www.fastcompany.com/40574949/like-theranos-but-it-works-health-startup-genalyte-proves-its-worth
>
>https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-blood-testing-startups-are-pitching-themselves-after-theranos-scandal-2018-06-22

This doc was good, but I think it let her too far off the hook. Everyone was lightweight making excuses about how she started off trying to help people but that things got away from the company. But she put people’s health in danger, especially after they opened up their “clinics” in AZ Walgreen’s. She was always someone who needed to be right, and would marginalize or, more likely, fire anyone who raised any sort of concerns or disagreed with her. The COO and her possible boyfriend Sunny was a huge piece of work as well.

I think a big takeaway of the doc (and the book) is how Venture Capitalist culture is trash. How everyone is looking so busy for the next Uber or IG or whatever that they threw common sense to the wind, all in purisuit of a “unicorn.”

But yeah, Holmes is a piece of work. I don’t know what’s more off-putting: the stare or the voice. And there is speculation that the latter is fake. She has also worked very hard to maintain a distance between herself and just about everyone else that’s forced people to assume/project motivations onto her. I don’t think she’s ever really given an interview beyond those early two puff pieces and the Errol Morris marketing interview. Close she came was the response to WSJ on CNBC, and that was all bullshit propaganda.

and if she was short and frumpy how far does she get with this sham?

>and if she was short and frumpy how far does she get with
>this sham?

It definitely doesn't get her in the same room with that one initial investor who wouldn't stop talking about how captivating and dynamic she was. And there's no way all of these old politicians want to meet with her.

Maybe it's become her "real voice" now, in the same way that someone can move to the UK and slowly start talking in a British accent without necessarily realizing it. But there's no way she was talking like that the whole time.

>RE: The voice has to be an affectation
>Maybe it's become her "real voice" now, in the same way that
>someone can move to the UK and slowly start talking in a
>British accent without necessarily realizing it. But there's
>no way she was talking like that the whole time.

She wasn't. The podcast confirms that. People saying they have her on audio/video tape in a normal, typical female voice.

This voice thing, her mannerisms. This is some Single White Steve Jobs feMale shit.

She's *insane*

Why did that box have to be so small if it was going to be at a Walgreens?

These women just as bad as their men

Type of broad to call the cops on you.

but how she slide the game past white MEN?!

This shit is like Alien(s), where they pull the gland out and smear the Alien innards all over themselves so the creatures can't smell them?

WTF?

What a fascinating and disgusting story. Fuck her and all her cohorts.

But agreed with Marauder above who said it was kinda peripherally satisfying to see folks like Kissinger and Mattis get fucked by this scheme haha.

Or if it was all a lie

Or at least going towards restitution. She and Sunny Balwani are in deep shit right now. I'm surprised the Doc didn't go into this, but the two of them have been indicted for massive wire fraud, and could be facing up to 20 years in prison. And the Justice Department is still sorting through documents and could charge her with more. This is after she settled with the SEC.

But as said above, it's not clear how much money she ever really had. A lot of the money that she brought in went down the drain on this boondoggle or she spent it on marketing and lobbying.

>Or at least going towards restitution. She and Sunny Balwani
>are in deep shit right now. I'm surprised the Doc didn't go
>into this, but the two of them have been indicted for massive
>wire fraud, and could be facing up to 20 years in prison. And
>the Justice Department is still sorting through documents and
>could charge her with more. This is after she settled with the
>SEC.
>
>But as said above, it's not clear how much money she ever
>really had. A lot of the money that she brought in went down
>the drain on this boondoggle or she spent it on marketing and
>lobbying.

Finesse King--Finesse Princess

She's just out here tryna' function...unbothered and unincarcerated
https://twitter.com/nickbilton/status/1098642159085834240

I work in the medical device industry

One of my strangest days on the jobs was a site visit to Theranos HQ

but this is how it goes, more often than not

Big Idea = get funding

...then bring the idea to fruition...

It's fucking scary

...and it happens everyday...

I'd have to think (read: hope to god) that in most cases, though, they don't actually roll out the product and USE IT/TEST IT ON PATIENTS before it's at least THOUGHT to be ready by a large group of different doctors/scientists/engineers/medical professionals etc.

The problem isn't funding an idea before actually creating it. You need money to research any big idea, medical or otherwise.

The problem is promising patients that you're giving them X when really you're giving them ... nothing.


>RE: Don't make the mistake of thinking this is an isolated incident
>I work in the medical device industry
>
>One of my strangest days on the jobs was a site visit to
>Theranos HQ
>
>but this is how it goes, more often than not
>
>Big Idea = get funding
>
>...then bring the idea to fruition...
>
>It's fucking scary
>
>...and it happens everyday...

Has products that have received FDA clearance

But have not presented evidence from a clinical trial

They are promoting their products based solely on their own claims

They have Drs personally invested in the product line

Who put a face of validity on the product line

for example

one of their products, is actually a reiteration of one our products that we scrapped

because we know it doesn't work

This company just went through a 2nd round of funding...and has received over $100M in it's last 2 rounds of funding from venture capital firms

...with no clinical evidence to back up their claims...

Make a new drug, then we find out it kills people quicker than it killed the lab rats and they pull it and pay a weak ass fine.

*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

I can only picture what it's like in the supplement business, where they don't even need to go to the FDA.

That space is TERRIBLE...

esp knowing now that they just use many of the same factories and vats/containers for multiple different drugs..

"Get ready....for your blessing....."

I want to say it was 2014...anyway, right before shit hit the fan

My previous company sold medical devices that measure and map blood flow

Scheduled a demo at Theranos HQ

Pull up to the site, and before I'm even in the parking lot, a security guard is approaching my car

Highly unusual. Typically you can enter the building and check in with security, etc..,

Antennas are up

My contact hadn't completed some paperwork for a rep visit, so I was asked to wait (after being allowed in the building) in a common area

Couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, security comes back and asks me to move to a conference room

The common area is immediately past the front door

"Is Obama coming" I said jokingly, which security didn't find funny at all

A few minutes in the conference room, which still has a view of the front door

The armada of black suvs pull up, she hops out, bookended by mib looking detail on all sides

I had no idea who she was, but my contact filled me in

I remember feeling sorry for somebody forced to live that way, assuming it was because she was heralded as the youngest billionaire in the world at the time

After the shit hit the fan, it just became a story to tell

I also remember being blown away by the campus

Brand new, state of the art facility, in Palo Alto, had to be worth a billy

It was like being immersed in an action movie/spy thriller for an afternoon

Fucking weird, that feeling stays with me to this day

She knew.

Edit: my contact led a walk through of the building

Majority of it was administrative, cubicles, etc...

Get to the lab...empty

Absolutely nothing in there except test benches

I didn't even see their blood testing device

https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Elizabeth-Holmes.jpg
https://www.insideedition.com/sites/default/files/images/2019-03/031419-elizabethholmes-1280x720.jpg


Look into those eyes.

This woman's childhood or early development was likely very harsh to say the least

Not excusing her actions just saying probably less to do with capitalism and more to do with the human condition imo

Doesn't change a thing about what forces likely brought about such a situation

Just saying this woman likely was born into something as opposed to being born that thing

She's made her choice though as far as walking that path is concerned

.

Can you clarify that question of why someone would want that product?

Because there are a few reasons why plenty of people would, and I'm curious why you would question why someone would want that, even if you wouldn't.

that you might have X blood disorder or whatever is probably not any healthier than googling your symptoms and coming to whatever conclusion. The whole point of it was to be able to order your own blood tests, independent of any medical advice.

I think, if you can (because American health care,) you should probably have this done by doctors, so they can actually examine you (as opposed to just looking at the numbers in your blood test.) Because anything you get from a Theranos blood machine is going to require an actual medical follow up anyway to deal with whatever you might have. And if you can't see a doctor, the machine isn't going to help you anyway, because you will still need to see a doctor.

I'd rather be examined WITH the blood test, so someone can actually have a better idea of what I might actually need.

That was what was so disruptive about the idea...you can't do that...even today

You have to wait for a blood test

I think that's what carried the company for so long

It's actually a great idea, and it will come to market from another company

I didn't see the doc, but I didn't hear the in home device pitch

As I understood it, and I believe they cut a deal with Walgreen's to have the devices in stores, like that thing you put your finger in to measure BP...it would be at the Dr's office and eventually in retail outlets like Walgreen's

But even so, I think you're underestimating the market

Blood testing is a growing industry, especially with the rise of diabetes

There are definitely patients that would benefit from having the device in their home

Would Jo Smo need one, of course not

But if you were diagnosed with a disease, and flare ups could be detected by blood tests

...say cancer for example...

Yeah, that would be a great benefit to the patient.

I feel like it would be a constant source of anxiety for me if I had one at home, but I also don't have to get my blood tested often, so I can't speak to that.

What’s the average person going to do with blood results?

Unless they have doctors who will read the results in real time it serves little purpose right now.

If I have cancer or fear that it’s returned I want to be in front of a doctor when I get those results.

and how they are being incorporated into health care

FitBit was a huge breakthrough in metadata collection and analysis

Here's an example of a heart monitor;

https://www.bardydx.com/

Would the average person be able to analyze a cardiac cycle...definitely not

But you wear this miniature external, connect it to a laptop/computer, and the associated software tells you the relevant information

This could definitely be the model Theranos was aiming at

...and like I said, other companies are picking up the idea, and it will come to market...

What I'm not getting is why you're projecting your rationale onto everyone else.

I.e, your explanation is in second-person perspective, "You should/shouldn't".

You can have your rationale for why you wouldn't, but I'm trying to u derstand your rationale for determining that nobody else should want it either.

Basically you're presenting this in a manner similar to the way militant vegans do in determining that others should also be vegan.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

her plotted scheme was a result of mental illness, instead of it being villainous.

I mean, goddamn!

not one picture of her on google without that shit looking dry and ratty.

This ho fucked up a ponytail!

Always some stray ass hairs, uneven ass lengths. How the fuck you give a chick with that hair that much money?????
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

was part of her thing though

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

sleeping four hours a day and say things like "I'm married to my company" like the psychos they are, instead of like visionary geniuses.

... I do SORT OF struggle with this thought. Like, to some degree I think that people like this are necessary for some of the major societal enhancements. Know what I'm saying ? Like if everyone was just kinda "meh, whatever" there's a lot of important stuff that wouldn't get done.

So I dunno. I of course realize that they are psychooooos but also think to some extent that a few of them are necessary for the major steps forward we require as a culture haha.

Maybe they should just do it and not brag about it ?


>RE: Hopefully one day we treat people who brag about
>sleeping four hours a day and say things like "I'm married to
>my company" like the psychos they are, instead of like
>visionary geniuses.

they're probably holding themselves back more through their ridiculousness than benefiting from it.

for her, everyone thought that she had some undiagnosed condition (the similarity to fyre festival is billy's put-on aspergers-ishness) that was the hidden secret they needed as a shortcut to the top


even seemingly successful Elon Musk -- is an AWFUL public speaker, but people think it just means he's more of a genius

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

That voice makes my ears bleed because it sounds so forced/unnatural.

It also reminds me of a kid I went to high school with, who started faking a deep voice in like 6th grade in some sort of misguided, pathetic effort to pretend he hit puberty sooner than he actually did. Then, too late to change course (in his stupid mind at least) he kept it up all the way through high school, somehow thinking that we hadn't figured it out by then.

Kid fucking sucked. So yea her voice makes me want to kick babies on two entirely different levels/for two entirely different reasons.

something's off.

The story my mind went to immediately is that they borrowed cash from some Russians...who don't play and have vats of sulfuric acid in their collections dept.

I'm in awe of his dedication to still growing a beard on the other half, though. I wouldn't be that brave.

The treatment he received led him to his current career as a behavioral scientist.

He was actually very interesting to read up on after.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

it wouldn't be quite so disconcerting I don't think.

that's a choice.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

in prison.

Though she faces 220 years. Fak, I think Jeff Skillings is looking to come home soon so I know she won't serve anywhere close to that.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Well, then again she robbed a ton of rich assholes.

At worst

definitely

make it stop



On another note: the podcast about this case is pretty dope too

called The Dropout

The podcast is better on a million levels.

That shit could have been a 20/20 episode and been much better.

But to hear there was a lot more they DIDNT put in is interesting because they literally could have told this story in half the time.

...well this sounds familiar...

https://www.businessinsider.com/microbiome-startup-ubiome-files-for-bankruptcy-2019-9

Poop-testing startup uBiome was once valued at $600 million by Silicon Valley’s top VCs. It just filed for bankruptcy.
Erin Brodwin and Emma Court 22h
uBiome Toilet Paper 1
Microbiome testing company uBiome came under scrutiny after an FBI raid. Hollis Johnson / Business Insider
uBiome filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, after months of challenges and setbacks for the poop-testing startup.
Founded in 2012, uBiome raised $105 million from investors like 8VC and Andreessen Horowitz to explore the microbiome, a "forgotten organ."
8VC now owns about 20% of the company while Andreessen Horowitz owns 11%, according to the bankruptcy filing.
The FBI raided uBiome's headquarters in April, reportedly related to the company's billing practices. Then, the company's top executives departed.
uBiome built a big set of data based on the human microbiome, but the data was flawed in ways that risked making uBiome's tests unreliable, Business Insider previously reported.
Click here for more BI Prime stories.
Silicon Valley gut-health startup uBiome has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping months of challenges and setbacks for the once-buzzy startup.

uBiome filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Court documents said the company may owe millions of dollars to health insurance companies, and could also face criminal and civil penalties from ongoing investigations.


The poop-testing firm, which counts 8VC and Andreessen Horowitz as its biggest investors, said it hopes to entice an investor to purchase it for its scientific knowledge of the microbiome, even as it grapples with the investigations.

"uBiome's business will be better positioned for success under new ownership," acting CEO Curtis Solsvig said in a statement.

"This step builds on the decisive actions the Board and new management team have recently taken to stabilize the Company and leverage the substantive value of our advanced microbiome testing and analysis assets," he added.

The company has been in hot water for some time: uBiome is currently under federal investigation related to its billing practices and laid off half its staff earlier this summer. In addition, insiders told Business Insider that key science was flawed from the start, prompting the company to start an internal investigation. A top science journal where uBiome published its basic research is also investigating.


ADVERTISING

inRead invented by Teads
The Wall Street Journal first reported on uBiome's bankruptcy filing earlier on Wednesday.

Read more: uBiome convinced Silicon Valley that testing poop was worth $600 million. Then the FBI came knocking. Here's the inside story.

"We have taken significant action to put the company on stronger footing and believe in the strength and potential of uBiome's scientific achievements and IP," Kimmy Scotti, 8VC partner and a uBiome board member, said in an emailed statement to Business Insider.

uBiome convinced Silicon Valley that testing poop was worth $600 million
Over its seven-year history, uBiome raised $105 million from high-profile investors including Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, and OS Fund. At one time, it was valued at $600 million. 8VC now owns about 20% of the company while Andreessen Horowitz owns 11%, according to the bankruptcy filing. OS Fund isn't mentioned in the filing.


But uBiome's value had long been precarious, according to insiders.

As uBiome advanced from citizen science project to clinical-testing company, it overstated the medical value of its tests and prioritized growth over patient care, insiders previously told Business Insider.

The bankruptcy filing confirms that these practices helped lead to the company's problems, and it places the blame on uBiome cofounders Jessica Richman and Zachary Apte.

On the heels of the FBI raid, uBiome's board of directors created a special committee to investigate. Shortly after, the committee placed Apte and Richman on leave. Both cofounders continued to be paid until they were removed from the company in July, according to the filing.


"The Founders implemented certain business strategies with respect to the SmartX products that were highly problematic, contained significant operational (but not scientific) flaws and, in some instances, were of questionable legality," the filing reads.

A representative from Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment on this story.

According to the filing, "issues included improper insurance provider billing practices, improper use of a telemedicine physician network (known as the External Clinical Care Network), overly aggressive and potentially misleading marketing tactics, manipulation of customer upgrade testing, and improper use of customer inducements."

The document notes that "inadvertent billings to Tricare, Medicare, and Medicaid" totaled roughly $4 million. In addition, uBiome must also address "over $10 million" worth of refund requests from other insurance companies related to its clinical tests.

ubiome 3
A uBiome Explorer test kit. Erin Brodwin
Throughout the bankruptcy filing, uBiome says that the company's value is linked to the scientific knowledge and intellectual properties that it's developed.


But some insiders previously told Business Insider that uBiome's basic science was flawed as well.

Read more: uBiome insiders say key science at the buzzy startup was flawed from the start. Now, the company and a top science journal are investigating.

A plan to sell uBiome kits at CVS and 'save 100 jobs'
In the bankruptcy filing, uBiome's current leadership says it believes parts of the company can be preserved, albeit with some big changes.

"Simply put, uBiome needs a clean slate and a fresh start to save the business and 100 jobs," the document reads.


Part of that fresh start involves a plan for uBiome to start selling its sole remaining test — the Explorer— at CVS Pharmacy following a purchase order agreement. The deal would involve an "upgraded version" of Explorer, according to the filing.

uBiome also said in the filing that it has contacted 180 potential buyers, of whom 13 had shown initial interest. None has moved forward with a deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcYppAs6ZdI

Prosecutors want 15 years. Defense asking for 18 months.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/elizabeth-holmes-sentenced-theranos-trial-rcna57344

of probation

I seriously doubt they send this white woman to jail.

for a long time.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

one of those acts that tells you all you need to know about a person.

also, LOL at Cory Booker asking for a lenient sentence. Just another one fooled by ole blue eyes.

>also, LOL at Cory Booker asking for a lenient sentence. Just
>another one fooled by ole blue eyes.

🤦🏾‍♂️

rich people.. lol.