It does look like a lot of shady behavior went on behind the scenes and dropping all the blame on Holmes might be a strategy designed to limit the fallout. The

It does look like a lot of shady behavior went on behind the scenes and dropping all the blame on Holmes might be a strategy designed to limit the fallout. The military-industrial contracting angle (which Holmes apparently used as a big selling point to lure in more investors) got set up with help from Theranos board member Jim Mattis, for example: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/mattis-theranos-questions/ https://taskandpurpose.com/news/mattis-theranos-questions/ > "Mattis's eagerness to deploy the technology was known and noticed at lower ranks. Near the end of the month, Shoemaker wrote another email to an undisclosed recipient: “The Theranos issue has taken on quite the life of its own within the Army. General Mattis who is the 4-star general in charge of Central Command … wants to see the Theranos device put into Afghanistan." Of course Mattis claims to have been completely hoodwinked, and didn't intentionally act to mislead the public and investors. Being politically connected probably helped him avoid prosecution, however.