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Her father was an executive at Enron, so I’m sure she’s familiar with corporate accountability.

p-e-w 3y ago
Enron wasn't just a one-in-a-thousand exception, it was a one-in-a-million exception. You have to go back to the early 20th century to find another case of the government coming down this hard on a large company, and it certainly hasn't happened again since. The standard process for many decades now is that a company caught committing crimes pays a certain amount of money (nowhere near enough to threaten its existence in any way), and then can continue operating essentially as before.
- graeme 3y ago
  Enron wasn’t a regular business caught committing crimes. The entire thing was fraud. There was no business left to operate. Same as Theranos. It was fraud. It is a massive mistake to conflate stuff regular companies do which may be illegal or distasteful, with companies that are entirely fraudulent.
  - p-e-w 3y ago
    Almost every Diesel vehicle Volkswagen produced for many years was fraud. The company designed those vehicles, with criminal intent, to deceive regulators (and customers!) into believing the product was something that it actually wasn't. How is that different from what Theranos did? Theranos fraudulently claimed their blood test was capable of quantifying various factors. It wasn't. Volkswagen fraudulently claimed their cars were capable of meeting emissions standards. They weren't. Yet Volkswagen is still allowed to operate, even though their business ran on fraud for a long time.
    - ajmurmann 3y ago
      VW's cars existed and were drivable. In fact owners of their cars were probably pretty happy with the product they had purchased till the scandal emerged. Theranos' product never worked in any way that anyone, consumer or regulator would have deemed acceptable. VW has other products than their diesel cars. Theranos had nothing but the non-functioning diagnostic.
  - George83728 3y ago
    > Enron wasn’t a regular business caught committing crimes. The entire thing was fraud. There was no business left to operate. This isn't true. Read The Smartest Guys in the Room. Enron started out as a real company and slowly became increasingly fraudulent with time.
    - graeme 3y ago
      Well yes. But what I meant was that at the time it collapsed, it was all fraud. There was no real business profitable business to continue. Fraud was what it did by the end.
- AntiRush 3y ago
  Worldcom happened within 6 months of Enron and it was at least as serious.

Enron wasn't just a one-in-a-thousand exception, it was a one-in-a-million exception. You have to go back to the early 20th century to find another case of the government coming down this hard on a large company, and it certainly hasn't happened again since. The standard process for many decades now is that a company caught committing crimes pays a certain amount of money (nowhere near enough to threaten its existence in any way), and then can continue operating essentially as before.

graeme 3y ago
Enron wasn’t a regular business caught committing crimes. The entire thing was fraud. There was no business left to operate. Same as Theranos. It was fraud. It is a massive mistake to conflate stuff regular companies do which may be illegal or distasteful, with companies that are entirely fraudulent.
- p-e-w 3y ago
  Almost every Diesel vehicle Volkswagen produced for many years was fraud. The company designed those vehicles, with criminal intent, to deceive regulators (and customers!) into believing the product was something that it actually wasn't. How is that different from what Theranos did? Theranos fraudulently claimed their blood test was capable of quantifying various factors. It wasn't. Volkswagen fraudulently claimed their cars were capable of meeting emissions standards. They weren't. Yet Volkswagen is still allowed to operate, even though their business ran on fraud for a long time.
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    VW's cars existed and were drivable. In fact owners of their cars were probably pretty happy with the product they had purchased till the scandal emerged. Theranos' product never worked in any way that anyone, consumer or regulator would have deemed acceptable. VW has other products than their diesel cars. Theranos had nothing but the non-functioning diagnostic.
- George83728 3y ago
  > Enron wasn’t a regular business caught committing crimes. The entire thing was fraud. There was no business left to operate. This isn't true. Read The Smartest Guys in the Room. Enron started out as a real company and slowly became increasingly fraudulent with time.
  - graeme 3y ago
    Well yes. But what I meant was that at the time it collapsed, it was all fraud. There was no real business profitable business to continue. Fraud was what it did by the end.
AntiRush 3y ago
Worldcom happened within 6 months of Enron and it was at least as serious.