5 ms·

I'm honestly surprised someone this wealthy and connected will actually do time.

by cyclecount 3y ago

benburleson 3y ago
The people she pissed off are wealthier and more connected.
- Verdex 3y ago
  For example, Henry Kissinger (a man I was surprised to learn is still alive) invested ~$6million.
  - JKCalhoun 3y ago
    Wow, guy is 100.
  - bigbillheck 3y ago
    The devil wants him up here.
    - agentwiggles 3y ago
      Devil's probably afraid of him
- transfire 3y ago
  This. If it were just a bunch of average joes that lost their money none of this would have happened. “Buyer beware” is the old adage. But this is a twofer. It also helps ensures that blood tests stay one-offs and cost top dollar for decades to come. It’s cold fusion all over again. Research in the area has suffered a convenient death blow.
  - JKCalhoun 3y ago
    Comparing this to cold-fusion seems to me to be a bit of a stretch.
grugagag 3y ago
Had she ripped off the poor she’d probably get a lesser sentence.
- Verdex 3y ago
  Yeah, iirc her official crime is fraud with respect to investors. There were a lot of people who got bad diagnosis and none of her charges had anything to do with that. Also that one time their lab got massively contaminated with ebola dna (apparently less bad than it sounds). No charges for creating an unsafe work environment or misleading public health officials on their ability to meaningfully perform ebola tests at (I think it was) airports. Ian Gibbons unfortunate death. Silence.
wisnoskij 3y ago
Well she has already tried to run once. She will likely try again, lets wait and see if she pulls it off or not before we mark her down as actually serving time. That she is not ion custody might be an indication that she has paid off the right people to allow her to disappear into some far away country.
- kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
  Still nursing her stay-out-of-jail baby.
- tiahura 3y ago
  You realize the flee to Mexico story turned out to be fake news and the prosecutors backpedaled?
  - rnk 3y ago
    It did seem to have happened that she bought a ticket though. News stories about her yesterday quoted the judge as explicitly referring to her buying a one way ticket. "Elizabeth Holmes' purchase of a one-way flight to Mexico was a 'bold move,' judge says" https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-plane-ticket-mexico-judge-bail-2023-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-pl...
  - PopAlongKid 3y ago
    That's a very generous interpretation. Of course it's what her defense attorney stated, that doesn't make it true. The prosecutor did not "backpedal". https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/theranos-trial-elizabeth-holmes-lawyers-rebut-flight-risk-mexico-claims/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/theranos-trial-eli...
PragmaticPulp 3y ago
Honestly: Why are you surprised? This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is arrested for crimes. However I can think of far more examples of someone going to jail/prison than escaping charges. It’s a rare and noteworthy occurrence when someone is caught doing a crime and then gets away with it in a high profile case, but cynical social media commenters act like it’s every single case. The same thing happened with SBF: The Reddit/HN near-consensus was that he was too rich to ever face consequences, but then the system chugged along and is working just fine.
- postpawl 3y ago
  White collar crime is down ~26% in the last 5 years: https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crime/monthlyjan23/fil/ https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crim... Do you think it’s because it’s more of a hassle to go after people who can afford lawyers or because white collar crime is actually down? I think it’s the former.
  - Teever 3y ago
    Is white collar crime down or are prosecutions of white collar crime down? How can you tell the difference? I find it hard to believe that in the age of NFTs and dogecoin and whatever crypto bullshit that white collar crimes are down.
  - PragmaticPulp 3y ago
    The question was about people who are caught committing crimes like Holmes and SBF. I was asking why the parent commenter believes that they would be caught, charged, but then never face consequences. How often are we seeing blatant public crimes by wealthy people (like Holmes, SBF, Epstein, etc) get shrugged off the by system? The parent comment implies that rich people can do crimes in public, get caught, then not suffer the consequences. I’m asking where this belief comes from, because it’s weirdly prevalent on HN, Twitter, Reddit, and other social medias despite not reflecting the realities.
    - deleted 3y ago
HEmanZ 3y ago
It’s only a Reddit-ism that rich people don’t do time. Especially rich people who’s crime is massive fraud, the system works just fine putting them behind bars.
- realworldperson 3y ago
  [dead]
- rnk 3y ago
  No. See Donald Trump, former president. And he was doing this for decades before he became a republican god. See the numerous examples where he managed to avoid paying people for contracting, for example.
throw_m239339 3y ago
Like other said she stole from the rich. Otherwise if she defrauded poor people, it would just have been deemed "doing business" in USA... As long as you don't try to defraud richer people more connected and powerful than you anything goes in America...

I'm honestly surprised someone this wealthy and connected will actually do time.

benburleson 3y ago

The people she pissed off are wealthier and more connected.

Verdex 3y ago
For example, Henry Kissinger (a man I was surprised to learn is still alive) invested ~$6million.
- JKCalhoun 3y ago
  Wow, guy is 100.
- bigbillheck 3y ago
  The devil wants him up here.
  - agentwiggles 3y ago
    Devil's probably afraid of him
transfire 3y ago
This. If it were just a bunch of average joes that lost their money none of this would have happened. “Buyer beware” is the old adage. But this is a twofer. It also helps ensures that blood tests stay one-offs and cost top dollar for decades to come. It’s cold fusion all over again. Research in the area has suffered a convenient death blow.
- JKCalhoun 3y ago
  Comparing this to cold-fusion seems to me to be a bit of a stretch.

grugagag 3y ago

Had she ripped off the poor she’d probably get a lesser sentence.

Verdex 3y ago
Yeah, iirc her official crime is fraud with respect to investors. There were a lot of people who got bad diagnosis and none of her charges had anything to do with that. Also that one time their lab got massively contaminated with ebola dna (apparently less bad than it sounds). No charges for creating an unsafe work environment or misleading public health officials on their ability to meaningfully perform ebola tests at (I think it was) airports. Ian Gibbons unfortunate death. Silence.

wisnoskij 3y ago

Well she has already tried to run once. She will likely try again, lets wait and see if she pulls it off or not before we mark her down as actually serving time. That she is not ion custody might be an indication that she has paid off the right people to allow her to disappear into some far away country.

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
Still nursing her stay-out-of-jail baby.
tiahura 3y ago
You realize the flee to Mexico story turned out to be fake news and the prosecutors backpedaled?
- rnk 3y ago
  It did seem to have happened that she bought a ticket though. News stories about her yesterday quoted the judge as explicitly referring to her buying a one way ticket. "Elizabeth Holmes' purchase of a one-way flight to Mexico was a 'bold move,' judge says" https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-plane-ticket-mexico-judge-bail-2023-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-pl...
- PopAlongKid 3y ago
  That's a very generous interpretation. Of course it's what her defense attorney stated, that doesn't make it true. The prosecutor did not "backpedal". https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/theranos-trial-elizabeth-holmes-lawyers-rebut-flight-risk-mexico-claims/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/theranos-trial-eli...

PragmaticPulp 3y ago

Honestly: Why are you surprised? This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is arrested for crimes. However I can think of far more examples of someone going to jail/prison than escaping charges. It’s a rare and noteworthy occurrence when someone is caught doing a crime and then gets away with it in a high profile case, but cynical social media commenters act like it’s every single case. The same thing happened with SBF: The Reddit/HN near-consensus was that he was too rich to ever face consequences, but then the system chugged along and is working just fine.

postpawl 3y ago
White collar crime is down ~26% in the last 5 years: https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crime/monthlyjan23/fil/ https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crim... Do you think it’s because it’s more of a hassle to go after people who can afford lawyers or because white collar crime is actually down? I think it’s the former.
- Teever 3y ago
  Is white collar crime down or are prosecutions of white collar crime down? How can you tell the difference? I find it hard to believe that in the age of NFTs and dogecoin and whatever crypto bullshit that white collar crimes are down.
- PragmaticPulp 3y ago
  The question was about people who are caught committing crimes like Holmes and SBF. I was asking why the parent commenter believes that they would be caught, charged, but then never face consequences. How often are we seeing blatant public crimes by wealthy people (like Holmes, SBF, Epstein, etc) get shrugged off the by system? The parent comment implies that rich people can do crimes in public, get caught, then not suffer the consequences. I’m asking where this belief comes from, because it’s weirdly prevalent on HN, Twitter, Reddit, and other social medias despite not reflecting the realities.
  - deleted 3y ago

HEmanZ 3y ago

It’s only a Reddit-ism that rich people don’t do time. Especially rich people who’s crime is massive fraud, the system works just fine putting them behind bars.

realworldperson 3y ago
[dead]
rnk 3y ago
No. See Donald Trump, former president. And he was doing this for decades before he became a republican god. See the numerous examples where he managed to avoid paying people for contracting, for example.

throw_m239339 3y ago

Like other said she stole from the rich. Otherwise if she defrauded poor people, it would just have been deemed "doing business" in USA... As long as you don't try to defraud richer people more connected and powerful than you anything goes in America...