Elizabeth Holmes was a young woman possessed of vaulting ambition. She wanted to change the world and boasted that she would do so by revolutionising global healthcare, making state-of-the art screening for numerous diseases accessible to all.
She would show how a pinprick of blood could transform medical practice.
In the event, Holmes showed only that there is no shortage of gullibility and greed among America's great and good and super-wealthy.
Bill Clinton, Rupert Murdoch, former U.S. Defence Secretary James 'Mad Dog' Mattis — America's most feted general — and two ex-U.S. Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, were among those taken in by the charismatic blonde with the piercing blue eyes, deep husky voice and astonishing powers of persuasion.
At the age of 19, Holmes had set up Theranos, one of Silicon Valley's most successful new business ventures, raising billions of dollars and being hailed as the 'next Steve Jobs' after the mercurial co-founder of Apple.
Her life-changing product was a portable blood-testing machine that could quickly and cheaply screen for hundreds of diseases.
Holmes's conviction was greeted with particular relief yesterday by Rochelle Gibbons, the widow of Ian Gibbons, a Cambridge-educated British biochemist who became Theranos chief scientist in 2005.
Dr Gibbons committed suicide in 2013 convinced that Holmes was about to sack him for challenging her grandiose claims about her blood-testing machine. Following his death, Holmes never offered any condolences but simply had an underling call his widow to demand the return of company property.
'Ian would be very happy,' Mrs Gibbons told the Mail. 'He was a very kind, tolerant person but he hated her so much — she was a sociopath, a narcissist, a bully and a liar. When he realised she was pushing things on patients that were fraudulent, it destroyed him.'
Mrs Gibbons knew Holmes in the early years of Theranos before she reinvented herself to appeal to would-be Silicon Valley investors — losing weight, dyeing her mousy brown hair blonde, cultivating a lower male-like voice, favouring black turtle necks as Jobs did, and developing a far more flamboyant personality. (Like the famously ascetic Jobs, she would also talk of her spartan existence, keeping little more than a mattress in her bedroom.)
While Rochelle Gibbons said she believes Holmes genuinely believed in her miracle product 'for a very brief time', she fatally came to fall her own hype. 'She couldn't escape her persona as a wunderkind and got sucked into it,' she said.
Holmes's story is now being made into a film starring Jennifer Lawrence and a TV mini-series with Amanda Seyfried, and it is not difficult to see why Hollywood should be enthralled by a saga that has been described as 'Silicon Valley's Greatest Disaster', revealing the perils of hype and hubris in the avaricious $2.4 trillion technology industry.
This is a fascinating story. Just how this woman managed to build this fake empire, and fool so many is beyond comprehension. It highlights just how shallow the world can be for those at the top of the financial pile.
Maddog said
Jan 5 2:38 PM, 2022
This is why a healthy dose of skepticism is always a good idea. Don't be a conspiracy theorist, just be skeptical enough to say you're unsure about something and need more evidence or proof.
Syl said
Jan 5 3:47 PM, 2022
It just shows that even the most powerful, richest, cleverest of people can be as thick as pig muck sometimes.
I doubt she would have been as successful if she had looked like the back of a bus...powerful men can be as gullible as anyone when confronted by an alluring female.
John Doe said
Jan 5 5:54 PM, 2022
Syl wrote:
It just shows that even the most powerful, richest, cleverest of people can be as thick as pig muck sometimes. I doubt she would have been as successful if she had looked like the back of a bus...powerful men can be as gullible as anyone when confronted by an alluring female.
I read an article that was from 2015 which diagnosed her as a psychopath by analysing an interview - here is a pic from it, they got it spot on.
Syl said
Jan 5 6:32 PM, 2022
She looks like a cross between a Teletubby and Hilary Clinton.
Maddog said
Jan 5 6:51 PM, 2022
Syl wrote:
It just shows that even the most powerful, richest, cleverest of people can be as thick as pig muck sometimes. I doubt she would have been as successful if she had looked like the back of a bus...powerful men can be as gullible as anyone when confronted by an alluring female.
She had the right parents and background too.
That doesn't hurt when you're looking for investors.
John Doe said
Jan 5 7:02 PM, 2022
Syl wrote:
She looks like a cross between a Teletubby and Hilary Clinton.
Look at the eyes!
Digger said
Jan 6 5:06 PM, 2022
John Doe wrote:
Syl wrote:
She looks like a cross between a Teletubby and Hilary Clinton.
Elizabeth Holmes was a young woman possessed of vaulting ambition. She wanted to change the world and boasted that she would do so by revolutionising global healthcare, making state-of-the art screening for numerous diseases accessible to all.
She would show how a pinprick of blood could transform medical practice.
In the event, Holmes showed only that there is no shortage of gullibility and greed among America's great and good and super-wealthy.
Bill Clinton, Rupert Murdoch, former U.S. Defence Secretary James 'Mad Dog' Mattis — America's most feted general — and two ex-U.S. Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, were among those taken in by the charismatic blonde with the piercing blue eyes, deep husky voice and astonishing powers of persuasion.
At the age of 19, Holmes had set up Theranos, one of Silicon Valley's most successful new business ventures, raising billions of dollars and being hailed as the 'next Steve Jobs' after the mercurial co-founder of Apple.
Her life-changing product was a portable blood-testing machine that could quickly and cheaply screen for hundreds of diseases.
Holmes's conviction was greeted with particular relief yesterday by Rochelle Gibbons, the widow of Ian Gibbons, a Cambridge-educated British biochemist who became Theranos chief scientist in 2005.
Dr Gibbons committed suicide in 2013 convinced that Holmes was about to sack him for challenging her grandiose claims about her blood-testing machine. Following his death, Holmes never offered any condolences but simply had an underling call his widow to demand the return of company property.
'Ian would be very happy,' Mrs Gibbons told the Mail. 'He was a very kind, tolerant person but he hated her so much — she was a sociopath, a narcissist, a bully and a liar. When he realised she was pushing things on patients that were fraudulent, it destroyed him.'
Mrs Gibbons knew Holmes in the early years of Theranos before she reinvented herself to appeal to would-be Silicon Valley investors — losing weight, dyeing her mousy brown hair blonde, cultivating a lower male-like voice, favouring black turtle necks as Jobs did, and developing a far more flamboyant personality. (Like the famously ascetic Jobs, she would also talk of her spartan existence, keeping little more than a mattress in her bedroom.)
While Rochelle Gibbons said she believes Holmes genuinely believed in her miracle product 'for a very brief time', she fatally came to fall her own hype. 'She couldn't escape her persona as a wunderkind and got sucked into it,' she said.
Holmes's story is now being made into a film starring Jennifer Lawrence and a TV mini-series with Amanda Seyfried, and it is not difficult to see why Hollywood should be enthralled by a saga that has been described as 'Silicon Valley's Greatest Disaster', revealing the perils of hype and hubris in the avaricious $2.4 trillion technology industry.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10369509/How-DID-Elizabeth-Holmes-fool-writes-TOM-LEONARD.html
I doubt she would have been as successful if she had looked like the back of a bus...powerful men can be as gullible as anyone when confronted by an alluring female.
I read an article that was from 2015 which diagnosed her as a psychopath by analysing an interview - here is a pic from it, they got it spot on.
She looks like a cross between a Teletubby and Hilary Clinton.
She had the right parents and background too.
That doesn't hurt when you're looking for investors.
Look at the eyes!
Mad as a barrel load of monkeys.