The founder of Theranos was named the "Woman of the Year" by Glamour at the height of her success. She was put on the list by Time. She was on the covers of Forbes, Fortune and T Magazine.
Three years later, Theranos failed in its mission to change the health care industry. It helped sour the media on Silicon Valley.
Roger Parloff, a journalist who wrote a Fortune cover story on Theranos, testified on Thursday in the trial of Ms. Holmes. Mr. Parloff said that Ms.Holmes had lied to him about the volume and types of tests that Theranos could do.
Mr. Parloff said that the start-up was introduced to him by Boies Schiller. He testified that the law firm told him that the real story was the company and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes.
A decade-long run of mostly positive coverage of the tech industry was ended by the discovery that Ms. Holmes was misdirecting the world about her company. Reporters cringed over glowing articles they had written about tech companies that turned out to have stretched the truth, glossed over the negative consequences of their products or generally abused the trust they had enjoyed with the public.
Roger Parloff, who wrote a Fortune cover story about Theranos, testified on Thursday that he had been lied to.
Margaret O'Mara is a professor at the University of Washington and a historian of Silicon Valley. We fell for it because it was not what we had been led to believe.
The Wall Street Journal published articles in 2015 and 2016 showing that Theranos was not what it appeared to be.
Reporters looked into the role that Facebook played in the 2016 presidential election, as well as scandals at Uber and a series of #MeToo accusations. The realization that the tech industry was no longer a niche for idealist computer nerds led to the shift. It needed to be held more to account because it had become the dominant force in the global economy.
The media has been laid out in detail in the trial of Ms.Holmes. The investors poured $945 million into Theranos because Ms.Holmes used positive articles to gain credibility.
The media coverage was great for those investors. Chris Lucas testified that reading the Fortune article made him very proud of the situation, proud we were involved, and very proud of Elizabeth, the whole thing. The report she prepared for the wealthy family lifted language from a Fortune article.
The media was eager to embrace the story of a brilliant college dropout who became the next Steve Jobs. A young female billionaire was being compared to Einstein and Beethoven. She told Mr. Parloff that she was a vegan Buddhist who drank green juice.
Ms. O'Mara said that there was a hunger for that kind of story.
In 2015, her business partner and boyfriend warned her that the media attention was getting too much.
Mr. Balwani wrote in a text message that he was worried about over exposure without solid substance.
Ms. Holmes ignored the warning. She wrote that media coverage had helped Theranos with a potential business deal.
Ms.Holmes is backstage at the 2015 Glamour Women of the Year Awards.
The start-up Theranos had a surprise inspection by regulators after The Journal revealed that its technology did not work as it was claimed.
The Journal's report was forcefully denied by Theranos. The article was dismissed as a waste of time by Ms. Holmes. According to text messages included in court filings, she and Mr. Balwani plotted a defamation suit. They led Theranos employees in chanting an expletive at John Carreyrou.
Mr. Parloff published a long correction to his Fortune article detailing how Theranos and Ms. Holmes had misled him. He blamed himself for not including the answers to his questions.
The exhibits revealed that Ms. Holmes had shown Mr. Parloff the same faked validation reports that she had sent to investors. Mr. Parloff said that Ms.Holmes had told him that the military was using Theranos in Afghanistan, but that he could not publish it or even ask Gen. James Mattis about it. It was found that Theranos machines were never used on battlefields.
Mr. Parloff said that she was concerned about trade secrets.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
Carlos Chavarria is a writer for The New York Times.
The founder of the blood testing start-up Theranos is going to trial for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud.
The key figures in the case are listed.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
Stephen Lam.
Theranos was founded by a 19-year-old dropout. She raised $945 million from investors and was crowned the world's youngest billionaire, but she has been accused of lying about how well the technology worked. She has denied the charges.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The images are by Justin Sullivan.
The president and chief operating officer of Theranos from 2009 to 2016 was a romantic partner of the CEO. He is accused of fraud and may be tried next year. He has denied the charges.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The New York Times had Jefferson Siegel as a writer.
David Boies served on the board of Theranos.
whistle-blowers and reporters who questioned the company's business practices were tried to shut down.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The images are from the same company.
The journalist John Carreyrou exposed fraudulent practices at Theranos.
The implosion of Theranos was caused by his coverage of The Wall Street Journal.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.
Two people are whistle-blowers, one is a former Theranos employee. They worked at the start-up.
George Shultz was a former secretary of state and was on the Theranos board.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The New York Times has an employee named Eric Thayer.
James Mattis was a member of the board.
He was the secretary of defense.
The person is from San Jose, Calif.
The case will be overseen by a federal judge.
Kevin Downey is a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.
The prosecution for the government will be led by Robert Leach, an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California.
Nov. 15, 2021.
Mr. Parloff apologized for the outlets that had hailed Ms.Holmes. Forbes revised Ms.Holmes net worth to zero. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ms. Holmes with fraud, and that's when Glamour appended an update to its Woman of the Year award.
Even though she faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, she continues to fight the media. Her lawyers have tried to limit Mr. Parloff's testimony. They filed a motion to get him to turn over all of his reporting notes even though he had already given recordings of his interviews to the sides of the case.
The goal of the motion was to show that Mr. Parloff was prejudiced against Ms. Holmes in his initial article.
A judge denied the motion.
