Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes' Fraud Convictions Upheld (msnbc.com) 84
"Elizabeth Holmes' fraud conviction has been upheld by a federal appellate panel," writes Slashdot reader ClickOnThis. MSNBC reports: A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the convictions, sentences and nine-figure restitution ordered against both Holmes and Theranos president, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. [...] Theranos was supposedly going to revolutionize medical laboratory testing with the ability to run fast, accurate and affordable tests with just a drop of blood from a finger prick. "But the vision sold by Holmes and Balwani was nothing more than a mirage," 9th Circuit Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen wrote (PDF) for the panel, adding that the "grandiose achievements touted by Holmes and Balwani were half-truths and outright lies."
Holmes was convicted of crimes related to fraud against investors while the jury acquitted her or hung on other counts. Balwani was convicted on all counts at his trial. The federal panel rejected a slew of arguments from both defendants, including that their trials featured improper testimony from Theranos employees. While the ruling is a major setback for the defendants, they can further appeal to a fuller panel of 9th Circuit judges and the Supreme Court, which generally has broad discretion over whether to accept cases for review.
Holmes was convicted of crimes related to fraud against investors while the jury acquitted her or hung on other counts. Balwani was convicted on all counts at his trial. The federal panel rejected a slew of arguments from both defendants, including that their trials featured improper testimony from Theranos employees. While the ruling is a major setback for the defendants, they can further appeal to a fuller panel of 9th Circuit judges and the Supreme Court, which generally has broad discretion over whether to accept cases for review.
Federal conviction upheld on appeal, so ... (Score:2, Troll)
She'll be pardoned by #47 in 3... 2... 1... (And then get a Cabinet position.)
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SBF too .. he's a nice guy that's been treated so unfairly. Making decisions based on evidence is stupid, is he a MAGA supporter or not? If so, pardon. Forget all the legal shmegal bullshit. Evidence based reasoning is woke.
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Looking at your history of posts (including ones I have responded to) I see that all of them consist of a single question, or a set of questions. Every. Single. Post.
And frequently they're off-topic, like this one. Are you a chatbot or something?
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Congratulations on proving my point. And on comparing yourself to Socrates.
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Do you see yourself as Meletus, Anytus, or more like Lycon, perhaps?
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No, he's actually a psychiatrist. The spend years training up on how to answer a question with a question.
Or maybe a chatbot that was fed old episodes of Who's Line Is It Anyway?
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SBF was too dumb not to figure out a way to put away $100 million somewhere.
All the other pardons for tech fraud were tech guys who could operate their systems. They knew how to hide the money so that they could buy a pardon in the future or something similar in the future.
I don't think SBF was smart enough to do that. He had a bunch of friends who did that and looks like he never learnt.
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SBF too .. he's a nice guy that's been treated so unfairly. Making decisions based on evidence is stupid, is he a MAGA supporter or not? If so, pardon. Forget all the legal shmegal bullshit. Evidence based reasoning is woke.
I've honestly been waiting for SBF to get pardoned and given the newly minted cabinet position of Crypto Czar. I mean, why not? It fits with the MO of the current administration. Find someone who either despises the subject or isn't afraid of utilizing the subject as an object to rape and pillage, then put them in charge of said subject.
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No doubt there are positions which would get her a pardon from Greedy McGolfy, but none of them involve cabinets.
Oh, no! (Score:2)
Oh no, step-felon 47! What are you doing!
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Given your prior endorsement of the view that every rich person is a sociopath that should die, I'd figure you'd be a big fan of hers considering she ripped off other rich people. And I don't think her being rich in and of itself would be a deal-breaker given your views on Luigi, who was raised by a rich family. Or is it just that ripping them off isn't enough, only death will suffice?
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Given your prior endorsement of the view that every rich person is a sociopath that should die, I'd figure you'd be a big fan of hers considering she ripped off other rich people.
Her business plan threatened people's health. Figure harder.
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At the end of the day, few people actually used her goofy little machine. Most of the work was done using third party instruments and conventional testing. No insurance ever covered it, including medicare and medicaid, including insurance that was in-network with Theranos for conventional testing. Which means if they did use it, they were more likely to have money to spare, making them more likely to be sociopaths subject to death in your view.
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At the end of the day, few people actually used her goofy little machine.
Yes, because she was stopped.
Got any more boot licking shit takes?
Re: Federal conviction upheld on appeal, so ... (Score:2)
No, that's not why, moron. Applying even basic reasoning skills, which you obviously don't have, should tell you this happened well before she was "stopped" in any way. They didn't cover it because it wasn't backed with sufficient evidence. It never could have met the standards that insurance companies ask for.
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Only if she kisses the ring or buys some shitcoin. But she’s probably a huge narcissist and still thinks she did no wrong.
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What do you mean "probably"? She's already made that pretty fucking clear.
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Correct. She is a candidate, whether she qualifies depends solely on what she has to offer.
"But she’s probably a huge narcissist and still thinks she did no wrong."
Sure, that just means she's capable of the sales job. No pardon so far means she's wanted to exhaust the free solutions first, that's seems like a mistake.
You give to the godfather before you need the favor, not when you need the favor. Does she not see what the tech bros did?
"What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully
What does she have (Score:1)
Can't think of anything she has that Orange Julius wants, though.
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The president might want to impregnate her, because of his paraphilia.
Can't think of anything she has that Orange Julius wants, though.
She is not an unattractive woman. And she's (in)famous. Combinations the 47th has shown interest in before.
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Dunno about that. It's one thing if the woman has a hot body and all of that, but when they have the voice of a 16 year old boy, it really kills the mood. Maybe she's more Kevin Spacey's type.
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That was an affectation. The thing that separates successful from run-of-the-mill narcissists is theatrical talent. You have to project an image that will pull in the gullible.
In reality, the natural pitch and timbre of your voice has absolutely nothing to do with your personality and ability to lead, but it *will* affect how people perceive you and their willingness to follow you. Is it better to have knowledge, insight, and leadership or is better to fake it? If you're courting investor money, it's mo
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Except she's a she. And we know how Trump is with DEI. So no, she gets no pardon because she's a she and not a white male.
And it's not like she can become a he, because we know Trump said there's no such thing as trans people.
She's screwed.
Re:Federal conviction upheld on appeal, so ... (Score:4, Insightful)
With a stoke of a sharpie, Trump pardoned all 1,500 Jan 6 rioters. Many of them were women.
Getting a pardon from Trump has nothing to do with your gender, and everything to do with whether pardoning you supports his world-view.
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That's because Trump pardoned everyone on Jan 6. He couldn't really just pardon all the men and leave the women to rot for rioting on his behalf. So that one stroke of the pen applied to everyone equally because he didn't want to make a bunch of carve outs for women, trans, etc. And h
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Your conspiracy is easily foiled by looking at a list of people Trump pardoned specifically, including women rights activists posthumously such as Susan Anthony. There's a lot to hate about Trump, no need to make up stupid conspiracies about his motivations. Or how about Alice Marie Johnson? She's a BLACK WOMAN. I mean the amount of DEI there would make a typical republican run for their doomsday bunker. Pardoned by Trump.
Try to stick to more logical reasoning. Even Trump is logical. What does he stand to g
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"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." -- Albert Camus
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Yep. Same approach as in any other "shithole"-country with a great Fuhrer.
Re: Federal conviction upheld on appeal, so ... (Score:2)
Would you concede that rationale also applies to the previous president and his sudden swath of pardons at the end of his administration?
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Would you concede that rationale also applies to the previous president and his sudden swath of pardons at the end of his administration?
Well no, not really.
First of all, issuing many pardons in the final days of a presidency is routine.
Second, not all of the people Biden pardoned agree with his world-view. Liz Cheney for example. She's a conservative, and Biden is not. Pretty much all they shared was that what Trump did on Jan 6 was wrong.
Third, Biden pardoned many people preemptively in order to foil Trump's publicized call for unwarranted retribution against them once he took office. That includes Cheney and Anthony Fauci, for example.
And
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"none of Biden's pardons showed the blatant self-service"
He literally pardoned HIS OWN SON who identified HIMSELF that a laptop detailing payments from foreign countries with 'a cut for the Big Guy' was his own.
If you're so far up your backside that you don't call that self-service, this isn't a rational conversation is it?
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"none of Biden's pardons showed the blatant self-service"
He literally pardoned HIS OWN SON who identified HIMSELF that a laptop detailing payments from foreign countries with 'a cut for the Big Guy' was his own.
If you're so far up your backside that you don't call that self-service, this isn't a rational conversation is it?
As is typical with your lot, you removed context. Let's look again at what I said:
And finally, none of Biden's pardons showed the blatant self-service that Trump showed when he pardoned 1,500 Jan 6 rioters who joined his failed insurrection.
Now, show me evidence that Biden pardoned 1,500 Hunter Bidens and we may have a starting-point for a discussion.
Anyway, we're here now, so let's finish. Hunter Biden made mistakes: he lied on a form about drug-addiction when he purchased a gun, and he paid his taxes late. His father already said he was not inclined to pardon him. But ... The Right turned Hunter into a punching bag, indicating he would become the same kind of t
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Probably he wouldn't because it's not true?
The only political pardons Biden made, and he made more than average because of the circumstances, were to protect people who he knew Trump would persecute for their beliefs. It didn't matter whether those people agreed with him or not or supported his agenda, what mattered was that they were in Trump's firing line solely because they did their jobs to the best of their abilities (or, in Hunter's case, were unfortunate enough to be the President's son at a time whe
Re: Federal conviction upheld on appeal, so ... (Score:2)
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Except she's a she. And we know how Trump is with DEI. So no, she gets no pardon because she's a she and not a white male.
And it's not like she can become a he, because we know Trump said there's no such thing as trans people.
Part of me wants to visit the world you live in for a week just to try it out.
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She'll probably end up being "elected" President after Trump has his last Big Mac.
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She'll be pardoned by #47 in 3... 2... 1... (And then get a Cabinet position.)
Oh no she won't. She defrauded investors not consumers. If you defraud the rich in this country, you're screwed. Robin Hood would be convicted of a capital crime in the U.S. now days
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Depends on the investors. If she conned George Soros: pardon. But instead she conned:
- Larry Ellison, who participated in Trump's 2020 attempted election theft
- Fortress Group, which loaned money to Trump, forgave the loans, and received favors in return
- Rupert Murdoch
No pardon for her.
Theranos' problem was a layer of management higher (Score:1)
Theranos's real problem was one layer of management higher than that college-dropout-cheerleader-figurehead-CEO-puppet they used as a scapegoat.
You'd think a medical device research company would have a Board stacked with experts in medical research and medical devices.
But it looks like Theranos's board had none.
Instead Theranos had a board full of politicians and rich bankers that seemed from the beginning structured to abuse their political connections to pump a stock and defraud government agencies rang
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Meh. The idea is obvious and academia and the industry continues to run with it even today and has gotten much closer to reality. The issue was just that Theranos' hype got out of control and the actual performance didn't catch up anywhere near quickly enough to save them.
This is not entirely unlike Tesla FSD which was first sold in 2016 and didn't become available until ~2022 (as a beta and ofc still pretty iffy depending on what one defines it as being )
As to Holmes herself i still don't think she was an
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The issue was just that Theranos' hype got out of control and the actual performance didn't catch up anywhere near quickly enough to save them.
The issue for the normal people was the lies which could affect people's health. Not too many people got a "test" from a Theranos machine so not too many people were affected, but it turned out that their machine was extremely inaccurate, and they knew it, and they lied about it.
The issue for wealthy investors was the lies which could affect the health of their investments. They didn't give a shit about people's lives, as they can afford the best medical care. But they still cared about lies affecting them.
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She claimed to have a working system, so they could have tested it.
Lying is still fraud. You can't pretend that's not an issue.
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It is an issue, but it was enabled by stupid people with lots of other people's money, which is the bigger and deeper issue which permits people like her to hurt other people.
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You're never going to solve the problem of stupid people with money.
Me alone? True.
But we've got to collectively solve the problem of stupid people who have all the money, or we're not going to make it.
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Yeah, because only geniuses support crowdfunding. Only geniuses buy viagra through email.
If you get near a point, make it.
Otherwise I'm just going to go ahead and assume you're defending shitlords who are taking advantage of people.
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Less inflammatory and more honestly, distributing money equally won't stop problems like Theranos.
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Frist and Foege have medical degrees. Of the rest, a few have degrees or backgrounds in business/industrial processes. The others I presume were there for marquee value, because of their celebrity.
Altogether, I don't see a pump-and-dump scenario just from the board of directors. For sure, it's not "stacked" with medical-device experts, but a few of them should have been hard to hoodwink. Unless the lies were convincing of course.
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You'd think a medical device research company would have a Board stacked with experts in medical research and medical devices.
I'm not sure you know what a board of directors does, but it's not what you think. They are merely a conduit between the CEO and the shareholder. The board didn't lie to anyone or misrepresent. The real issue is that they approved Holmes' appointment as a CEO in the first place, but hey that's how fraudsters work, they convince people to do things they wouldn't otherwise do.
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I'm not sure you know what a board of directors does [...] They are merely a conduit between the CEO and the shareholder. [...] they approved Holmes' appointment as a CEO in the first place
Try making up your mind sometime. Barring that, don't contradict yourself in a single paragraph.
The question is not⦠(Score:2, Troll)
Whether she will be pardoned. That is assured.
The question is how much she will have to pay for it.
If I had to guess: $15M +- $3M. Not very exact, I realize. But, my understanding of the bribery/tribute market is not very good.
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Re: The question is not⦠(Score:2)
I think the "poor" guy is just one of the more recent victims of her manipulations.
So she fucked with people (Score:2)
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Bernie Madoff died in 2021.
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Bernie Madoff died in 2021.
Death: The ultimate pardon.
The question is who she conned. (Score:2)
- Larry Ellison, who participated in Trump's 2020 attempted election theft
- Fortress Group, which loaned money to Trump, forgave the loans, and received favors in return
- Rupert Murdoch
No pardon for her.
She should have gotten life (Score:2)
She put people's lives at risk all to make a buck.
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The thing about it is everyone knew what she was doing was impossible except for that one idiot who runs Walgreens. As far as anyone can tell he was just mesmerized by her eyes or something because he should have known what she was doing was physiologically impossible or the very least somebody should have told him.
I guess what I'm saying is this thing where we have th
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Meanwhile in the real world, micro sample blood tests have become very much a real thing in the years since her conviction, even if still mostly confined to research University laboratories. You can read about it in the general media.
Someone like the CEO of a major drug store / pharmacy chain probably spends a lot more time reading press releases from the bio-medtech industry which was talking about this stuff. So it was not as big a stretch to think that perhaps Theranos was real. It only required belief
Scaled-up fraud (Score:2)
Elmo's Full Self Driving.
Re:Scaled-up fraud (Score:4)
I'm not entirely sure exactly how it works when a company does that but I've seen it happen enough times to know that it's perfectly doable and I know that if you go to a high-end business school they will teach you exactly how to do it. That's what Mitt Romney learned at his pricey school and it's why those educations are so expensive.
Being taught how to violate the law without violating the law ain't cheap.
Remember guys (Score:3)
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Now you tell me!
I have a suggestion (Score:2)
Womp womp (Score:2)