Speaker 1: Elizabeth Holmes. The founder of blood testing startup Theranos is in court facing charges of fraud and conspiracy. The Silicon valley star went from running a $9 billion company to facing 20 years in prison. So how did we get here? Holmes famously started Theranos in 2003, after dropping out of Stanford university at the age of 19, the company's promise sounded almost too good to be true. The ability to do full diagnostic [00:00:30] blood tests for everything from cholesterol to cancer, with just one drop of blood, rather than a full blood draw, the magic behind it all was the Edison machine. A table hop mini lab that Theranos claimed could run the tests without having to send blood samples off to a lab. The company hit the mainstream in 2012 with a $350 million investment from us. Supermarket chains, Safeway. Then it landed a partnership with Walgreens to run blood testing in drug stores [00:01:00] all across the us.
Speaker 1: The hype around Theranos grew and Holmes became one of the most watched people in the tech world. She became famous for her signature, Steve jobs style turtleneck. There were high profile interviews, a Forbes profile awards from glam magazine and even a meeting from then vice president Joe Biden. But that facade began to crack in 2015 with an expose from the wall street journal reporter John carro. He revealed claims that [00:01:30] Theranos was only running a handful of tests on its Edison machines, and that most were being done with standard lab equipment carro also reported that tests were being conducted with diluted blood, which led to questions about the accuracy of the results by 2018. The dream was all over the securities and exchange commission filed charges against homes and former Theranos president Remesh son be alleging. They deceived investors and made false claims [00:02:00] about their finances and technology Theran and home settled.
Speaker 1: And the company was shut down shortly after the whole saga was turned into a book by John carro, bad blood, which then became a podcast. And then HBO arrived with the documentary, the inventor, which profiled the fall of Theranose in vivid detail. But the story wasn't over homes and Bo are now facing new charges filed in the us district court in July, 2020, they've been charged with [00:02:30] 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, all stemming from deceptive representations. They allegedly made about Theranos and its tech. The maximum sentence, if they're convicted is 20 years in prison for her part homes has pled not guilty, but since that first wall street journal article dropped, she has largely stayed quiet on the allegations against her in 2015 homes appeared on CNBC's mad money
Speaker 2: Saying this is [00:03:00] what happens when you work to change things. First, they think you're crazy. Then they fight you. Then all of a sudden you change the world. The trial officially begins on September 7th. Now there are no cameras allowed into the courtroom, but you can stay up to date with all of the developments on CNET.
