Friday OT #2 - So, So, So Scandalous
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
The various list of billionaires and former secretaries of defense/state/education don't initially strike me as people who are fooled easily. Or at least I wouldn't have thought that until I read Bad Blood.
How did she do that? How did she clown those kind of people?
I don't disagree she did the crime and should do the time. But I'd dislike her a lot more if she was stealing from grandmother's pension fund rather than what she did, which was steal a bunch of money from a lot of very serious and successful people who should have known better but fell for it.
I feel similar about Madoff. He didn't steal from the little guy. He deserved his time... but...
He made the rich fools through their own hubris.
To each his own. But just because someone's wealthy doesn't automatically make them a horrible human who deserves to be ripped off.
The part that infuriates me is the part that makes me a scientist.
The complete lack of data supporting the claims, and the unwillingness to show any real data, to the downright obfuscation of results, demonstrated that the point of the operation was about raising money.
I thought they had rigged up their presentations where they were using data/results being provided from utilizing Siemens machines, which needed a lot more blood for testing and took longer, and presenting it as though it was accomplished with just a drop and getting results much quicker using Theranos technology. I could be wrong. But I'm pretty sure they were presenting data in their pitches, it was just all complete BS on how that data was achieved.
That company repackaged the Seimens blood testing instrument inside of their shell. It’s not like she smooth-talked, she outright lied, and that company she led perpetrated fraud on people seeking healthcare. Inexcusable. The army was looking to deploy these pieces of garbage in Afghanistan.
Also, while she roped in big names, none of the big healthcare related funds bought into Theranos. This should have been a huge tell that their tech was garbage. (Yes, PFM’s health fund did buy in right before the house of cards toppled, but none of the scores of other healthcare focused funds did.) All of these healthcare super funds passed, because the science is just insane fiction. You don’t need tons of blood for a lot of tests, but you do need to draw enough to get it drawn correctly. That technology did not address the sampling issue.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but from the data I’ve seen, she’s a bad and manipulative person. They threatened Carreyrou. Have you listened to him being interviewed? I would say he hates her, and he has basically said for a time he worried about his safety.
The one thing I will say is that if she hadn’t been a young woman, I wonder if she would have been prosecuted differently or maybe not at all. The CEO from Boeing was more or less responsible for killing folks in plane crashes, and he’s still free. Martha Stewart… jail. Our perceptions of how people show act are biased. Nonetheless, I’m glad she’s going to jail. Terrible stuff.
If you want to like someone, like George Schultz’s grandson. That kid has integrity and bravery. Schultz was a garbage SOS.
Yeah, but her raising money was just for money. She wanted the fame and recognition. Look at her board, it wasn’t all-star for a healthcare tech firm. She wanted to be someone, she didn’t want to make something.