4 ms·

Indeed, why isn't the entire board, and upper management in jail?

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
Have you looked at their board? It's basically the ultra-elite. How would you even go after James Mattis? It's kind of sad but a brilliant illustration of how much money can protect you. Theranos the company will fail but Theranos the people will be fine, except for the whistleblower that is.
- jackmott 9y ago
  All we have to do is elect people who don't care about that crap.
  - trizzump 9y ago
    We have. And the sewer/swamp is being drained as we speak. It's a slow process, but it's happening regardless of how you feel emotionally.
- swamp40 9y ago
  Mattis resigned from the board in 2016.
  - rgbrenner 9y ago
    He joined in 2013.. this story broke in oct 2015 in the wsj. And he resigned in December (along with other boards he was on) to join the trump admin. So there's an open question about when he knew about this fraud. But clearly he didn't have a problem staying on even after it became public knowledge. And there's also this: In 2012, for instance, Holmes began talking to the Department of Defense about using Theranos’s technology on the battlefield in Afghanistan. But specialists at the D.O.D. soon uncovered that the technology wasn’t entirely accurate, and that it had not been vetted by the Food and Drug Administration. When the department notified the F.D.A. that something was amiss, according to The Washington Post, Holmes contacted Marine general James Mattis, who had initiated the pilot program. He immediately e-mailed his colleagues about moving the project forward. Mattis was later added to the company board when he retired from the service. (Mattis says he never tried to interfere with the F.D.A. but rather was “interested in rapidly having the company’s technologies tested legally and ethically.”) https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-the... So he was told by the DOD that it didn't work after he initiated a pilot program for Theranos.. and continued to push it internally.
leeoniya 9y ago
because the board is stacked with billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state. too big to jail
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  >> On April 21, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that an investor had alleged that Theranos Inc. had misled company directors about its practices concerning laboratory testing. According to a lawsuit filed by the investor, Theranos had used a shell company to secretly buy lab equipment to run fake demonstrations with. The company lied to its own board of directors and investors. I don't think they are the ones who need to be jailed.
- swamp40 9y ago
  >> *billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state* Those people are all gone from the board now.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cat199 9y ago
dig deep.. see also the board and Ian Gibbons suicide.. The whole thing smacks of an outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare and elsewhere via pharmacy blood testing fees..
- patrickg_zill 9y ago
  "outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare" You just described the business model of about 1/8th of all companies operating in the US healthcare business...
Bartweiss 9y ago
Didn't they lie to the board about how/whether the tests worked? Doesn't get upper management off the hook, but I don't actually know how responsible boards are when they're being mislead.
bpodgursky 9y ago
Why would the board be in jail? They are the ones who invested and may be losing money. Who did they defraud? Prison isn't a random card you can play to threaten people who you don't like, unless you want to go back to the USSR.
- jackvalentine 9y ago
  The Board of Directors is charged with overseeing the conduct of the business. Whilst I've only held board memberships in Australia I expect it's a concept that translates somewhat to other countries. Board members can be held personally responsible for the misconduct of a company (criminally as well as civilly).

Have you looked at their board? It's basically the ultra-elite. How would you even go after James Mattis? It's kind of sad but a brilliant illustration of how much money can protect you. Theranos the company will fail but Theranos the people will be fine, except for the whistleblower that is.

jackmott 9y ago
All we have to do is elect people who don't care about that crap.
- trizzump 9y ago
  We have. And the sewer/swamp is being drained as we speak. It's a slow process, but it's happening regardless of how you feel emotionally.
swamp40 9y ago
Mattis resigned from the board in 2016.
- rgbrenner 9y ago
  He joined in 2013.. this story broke in oct 2015 in the wsj. And he resigned in December (along with other boards he was on) to join the trump admin. So there's an open question about when he knew about this fraud. But clearly he didn't have a problem staying on even after it became public knowledge. And there's also this: In 2012, for instance, Holmes began talking to the Department of Defense about using Theranos’s technology on the battlefield in Afghanistan. But specialists at the D.O.D. soon uncovered that the technology wasn’t entirely accurate, and that it had not been vetted by the Food and Drug Administration. When the department notified the F.D.A. that something was amiss, according to The Washington Post, Holmes contacted Marine general James Mattis, who had initiated the pilot program. He immediately e-mailed his colleagues about moving the project forward. Mattis was later added to the company board when he retired from the service. (Mattis says he never tried to interfere with the F.D.A. but rather was “interested in rapidly having the company’s technologies tested legally and ethically.”) https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-the... So he was told by the DOD that it didn't work after he initiated a pilot program for Theranos.. and continued to push it internally.

leeoniya 9y ago

because the board is stacked with billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state. too big to jail

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
>> On April 21, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that an investor had alleged that Theranos Inc. had misled company directors about its practices concerning laboratory testing. According to a lawsuit filed by the investor, Theranos had used a shell company to secretly buy lab equipment to run fake demonstrations with. The company lied to its own board of directors and investors. I don't think they are the ones who need to be jailed.
swamp40 9y ago
>> *billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state* Those people are all gone from the board now.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

cat199 9y ago

dig deep.. see also the board and Ian Gibbons suicide.. The whole thing smacks of an outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare and elsewhere via pharmacy blood testing fees..

patrickg_zill 9y ago
"outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare" You just described the business model of about 1/8th of all companies operating in the US healthcare business...

Bartweiss 9y ago

Didn't they lie to the board about how/whether the tests worked? Doesn't get upper management off the hook, but I don't actually know how responsible boards are when they're being mislead.

bpodgursky 9y ago

Why would the board be in jail? They are the ones who invested and may be losing money. Who did they defraud? Prison isn't a random card you can play to threaten people who you don't like, unless you want to go back to the USSR.

jackvalentine 9y ago
The Board of Directors is charged with overseeing the conduct of the business. Whilst I've only held board memberships in Australia I expect it's a concept that translates somewhat to other countries. Board members can be held personally responsible for the misconduct of a company (criminally as well as civilly).