Selling the illusion to the giants of money and politics in...

Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest self-made billionaire, has sold the illusion to America’s billionaires and celebrities, in one of the world’s biggest fraud cases.

Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of blood testing company Theranos, was found guilty and found guilty of four counts of fraud and online conspiracy after a three-month trial, according to the Associated Press.

And Holmes managed to attract high-ranking political figures to the company’s board of directors such as Henry Kissinger, James Mattis and even Rupert Murdoch, injecting money into the company that he saw as a profitable investment.

Elizabeth Holmes has been accused of defrauding investors, doctors and patients who used her company’s blood-testing devices, according to Forbes magazine.

The BBC describes the dream that Elizabeth was selling turned into a “nightmare” because the technology did not work, but the investors were not aware of it.

Holmes sells the air

“We would like to see a world where everyone can do this kind of basic test.” That was the vision of Elizabeth Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford University at just 19 years old.

Holmes aspired to revolutionize diagnostic testing, and achieved fame in Silicon Valley after founding Theranos in 2003.

But after years of deceptive publicity and later attracting billions of dollars, these promises have not paid off and the promised devices have not seen the light of day.

Prosecutors say Holmes knew about it but continued to deceive investors, doctors and patients so she could raise $700 million.

Forbes estimated her net worth at $4.5 billion in 2015.

Youngest self-made billionaire

Holmes’ idea, which made her a billionaire, was to build a machine that could detect hundreds of diseases, by examining a few drops of blood.

The idea attracted many investors, and the luxurious offices of Theranos Company witnessed the presence of many celebrities, and even US President Joe Biden visited it while he was in California and praised its success.

A dream turned into a nightmare

The world welcomed Elizabeth Holmes, calling her the “successor of Steve Jobs”, but she was convicted of deliberately defrauding investors, but not of defrauding patients.

BBC correspondent James Clayton told Eileen Lapera, a Silicon Valley secretary and former Theranos investor, about the collapse of the $9 billion Holmes blood-testing company.

Eileen says that her Silicon Valley boss saw Theranos as the next Apple company, and advised her to buy several stocks, which made her invest more than $1 million, a big number for her.

“Elizabeth was working undercover, so we didn’t know if she was doing well or if she was about to collapse,” Eileen added.

Holmes’ indictment

The jurors in San Jose federal court in California found the 37-year-old not guilty on four additional counts, and were unable to agree on a verdict on the last three charges after seven days of deliberation.

Holmes, who was found guilty of the four counts of fraud and conspiracy against investors, was not found guilty of fraud and conspiracy against patients and doctors, and the three counts that were deadlocked were related to specific wire transfers.

During the three-month trial, the attorney general argued that Holmes was “fully aware” that Theranos machines could not perform dozens of tests using just a few drops of blood despite her claiming to do so, misrepresenting her company’s revenue, and using modified third-party devices. To mislead investors, partner organizations try to make money and notoriety.

Prosecutors can hold a new trial on the three deadlocked charges, according to the Wall Street Journal.

How was Theranos founded 19 years ago?

Startup Theranos in 2004 raised more than $6 million to reach a valuation of about $30 million, according to Reuters.

In 2009, Holmes’ then-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Palwani, joined Theranos as Chief Operating Officer, and a year later Theranos raised another $45 million, reaching a valuation of $1 billion.

Theranos has become the focus of high-profile board members, including two former US secretaries of state, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger.

In 2012, the company moved to Facebook’s former headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

Then, in 2013, it began promoting its technology, claiming it could perform a wide range of tests from a single drop of blood using a machine called Edison, and partnering with Walgreens Boots Alliance.

In 2014, after Theranos raised more than $400 million, the company’s market value jumped above $9 billion.

Holmes entered the billionaire club, according to Forbes estimates, thanks to her stake in the company.

Shadows began to swirl around the company in February 2015, when an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association criticized Theranos for failing to publish any of its research in peer-reviewed journals.

In October 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that Theranos was using its technology for only a small number of its tests, and that employees questioned its accuracy.

The US Food and Drug Administration later issued a finding that the company used unapproved devices to conduct the tests.

In January 2016, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a report stating that one of the company’s facilities presents a “patient health and safety risk”.

The authority said that the inspection revealed that the facility did not meet its quality control standards.

In June 2016, Walgreens terminated its contract with Theranos, followed by Partner Fund Management in October of the same year, which invested about $100 million in Theranos, and charged Theranos with securities fraud, claiming that Theranos lied. on its technology to secure investment.

In April 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services banned Theranos from taking blood tests for two years.

Theranos, Holmes, and Balwany were indicted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2018 with securities fraud.

Holmes was stripped of his stake in the company and lost control of it.

In June of the same year, Holmes and Balwani were charged with criminal fraud, which led to the company’s bankruptcy in September 2018.