By Nina Zeballos

Elizabeth Holmes. Photo credit: Stuart Isett.

Thirty-seven-year-old “Girl Boss” Elizabeth Holmes is currently facing up to 20 years in prison after her multi-billion dollar company, Theranos, was exposed for fraud. Theranos’ business focused on various types of blood testing, ranging from tuberculosis to measles. As opposed to other companies in the medical industry, Holmes claimed that their equipment could perform over 200 different types of tests with a single drop of blood.

On Feb. 3, 1984, Elizabeth Holmes was born in Washington DC. After attending high school in Houston, she went on to pursue a degree in chemical engineering at Stanford in 2002. Holmes was granted many opportunities and even worked at the Genome Institute of Singapore, testing blood samples for viruses. However, in 2004, Holmes dropped out of Stanford and used her tuition money to fund her healthcare tech company, which would later become the cause of her demise.

Originally motivated out of Holmes’ supposed needle-phobia, Theranos sought to out-perform its competition by creating a non-intimidating, user-friendly method of blood testing. Holmes wanted more people to get their blood tested, intending to save lives through early diagnoses. She pitched her beliefs to multiple medical experts. Despite being told that her idea was impractical, she persisted and garnered the approval of the Dean of the School of Engineering at Stanford, Channing Robertson. With Robertson’s support, Holmes created a board and started collecting investments. 

Investors poured in, eager to catch the early wave of a promising company and to support Holmes’ backstory, which Kate Knibbs from The Ringer claims was “irresistible.” Holmes went on to acquire $92 million in investments by 2010, after easily raising $6 million within the company’s first year. Ultimately, over $700 million was invested into her company, valuing it at $9 billion, with Holmes owning the majority investment of more than 50%. She was able to score partnerships with company giants such as Walgreens. Theranos’ website possessed a series of quotations from customers, one who detailed that “Walgreen’s makes this visit credible, as in this is not some unknown lab that is located in the dark areas of town.” Holmes proved she was able to swindle her investor and consumer base, but in 2015, things started going south.

John Carreyrou, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, began investigating Theranos after receiving an anonymous tip from a pathologist who was suspicious of Holmes’ declarations about the company’s medical equipment. Carreyrou uncovered Holmes’ attempts to cover up her corporation’s reality. Their device, known as the Edison, credited with the ability to perform countless tests on a few drops of blood, was not fulfilling all the tests guaranteed to consumers. Carreyrou interviewed multiple ex-employees of Theranos, all of whom mentioned their suspicions of the accuracy and credibility of the company’s procedures. Not only was the machinery faulty, but the foundation of Holmes’ company, their ability to perform complex testing on a drop of blood, was proven false, after the excerpt “Many of our tests require only a few drops of blood” was deleted from the official site. Carreyrou discovered that Holmes purposely misled her investors and the public with false information to maintain the company’s popularity. Despite being threatened with lawsuits from Holmes, Carreyrou wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal, “Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology,” detailing his findings on the company, which triggered the investigations on Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes.

In March 2018, after a series of regulations placed on the company and inspections into its legitimacy took place, Holmes and Ramesh Balwani, previous president and COO of Theranos, were charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Share-holders lost more than $700 million in investments under false pretenses. She scammed her investors and customers by falsely advertising her product.

Holmes’ trial began on August 31 and is currently taking place after being delayed due to the pandemic and her unexpected pregnancy. According to The United States Department of Justice, Holmes faces 11 charges: “two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, […] and nine counts of wire fraud […].” If found guilty, she could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison and fined up to $250,000. Jemima McEvoy of Forbes details the defense that Holmes’ lawyers are taking, specifying that they plan to charge Balwani, who was formerly romantically involved with Holmes, of “psychological, emotional and sexual abuse.” The trial is set to last 13 weeks. Former U.S. judge Nancy Gertner told CNN that “[t]he central question of the trial will be whether jurors believe Holmes knew what she was doing.”