Less than two years after Theranos was exposed as a fraud by the WSJ, and not that much longer after its CEO Elizabeth Holmes was prancing around with Bill Clinton on the stage of the Clinton Global Initiative…
… the SEC finally woke up, and moments ago it announced that it has charged Elizabeth Holmes as well as Theranos’ former president Ramesh Balwani with “massive fraud” for raising $700M+ “through an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.”
The SEC announced that as part of a settlement, Theranos and Holmes have agreed to resolve the charges against them, and “in addition to a penalty, Holmes has agreed to give up majority voting control over the company, as well as to a reduction of her equity which, combined with shares she previously returned, materially reduces her equity stake.“
“As a result of Holmes’ alleged fraudulent conduct, she is being stripped of control of the company she founded, is returning millions of shares to Theranos, and is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “This package of remedies exemplifies our efforts to impose tailored and meaningful sanctions that directly address the unlawful behavior charged and best remedies the harm done to shareholders.”
And so the story of the brilliant entrepreneur, and was supposed to be the next turtleneck-clad Steve Jobs…
… but who ended up being nothing but a fraud, is officially finished.
There is just one loose end: it is unclear if the “investing” idiots over at Softbank will recoup any of their $100 million investment which they made just this past December as we profiled in “Busted Billion-Dollar-Baby Fraud Finds Another Greater Fool – Softbank Lends Theranos $100 Million!”
Full SEC press release below:
Holmes Stripped of Control of Company for Defrauding Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Silicon Valley-based private company Theranos Inc., its founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, and its former President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani with raising more than $700 million from investors through an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance. Theranos and Holmes have agreed to resolve the charges against them. Importantly, in addition to a penalty, Holmes has agreed to give up majority voting control over the company, as well as to a reduction of her equity which, combined with shares she previously returned, materially reduces her equity stake.
The complaints allege that Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani made numerous false and misleading statements in investor presentations, product demonstrations, and media articles by which they deceived investors into believing that its key product – a portable blood analyzer – could conduct comprehensive blood tests from finger drops of blood, revolutionizing the blood testing industry. In truth, according to the SEC’s complaint, Theranos’ proprietary analyzer could complete only a small number of tests, and the company conducted the vast majority of patient tests on modified and industry-standard commercial analyzers manufactured by others.
The complaints further charge that Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani claimed that Theranos’ products were deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the battlefield in Afghanistan and on medevac helicopters and that the company would generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2014. In truth, Theranos’ technology was never deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense and generated a little more than $100,000 in revenue from operations in 2014.
“Investors are entitled to nothing less than complete truth and candor from companies and their executives,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “The charges against Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani make clear that there is no exemption from the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws simply because a company is non-public, development-stage, or the subject of exuberant media attention.”
“As a result of Holmes’ alleged fraudulent conduct, she is being stripped of control of the company she founded, is returning millions of shares to Theranos, and is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “This package of remedies exemplifies our efforts to impose tailored and meaningful sanctions that directly address the unlawful behavior charged and best remedies the harm done to shareholders.”
“The Theranos story is an important lesson for Silicon Valley,” said Jina Choi, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. “Innovators who seek to revolutionize and disrupt an industry must tell investors the truth about what their technology can do today, not just what they hope it might do someday.”
Theranos and Holmes have agreed to settle the fraud charges levied against them. Holmes agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty, be barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years, return the remaining 18.9 million shares that she obtained during the fraud, and relinquish her voting control of Theranos by converting her super-majority Theranos Class B Common shares to Class A Common shares. Due to the company’s liquidation preference, if Theranos is acquired or is otherwise liquidated, Holmes would not profit from her ownership until – assuming redemption of certain warrants – over $750 million is returned to defrauded investors and other preferred shareholders. The settlements with Theranos and Holmes are subject to court approval. Theranos and Holmes neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the SEC’s complaint. The SEC will litigate its claims against Balwani in federal district court in the Northern District of California.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Jessica Chan, Rahul Kolhatkar, and Michael Foley and supervised by Monique Winkler and Erin Schneider in the San Francisco Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Jason Habermeyer and Marc Katz of the San Francisco office.
* * *
Finally, here is a “brief” recap of all the fawning coverage the objective media had given to Theranos and Holmes in the years ahead of her spectacular collapse:
August 30, 2013
“Theranos: The Biggest Biotech You’ve Never Heard of.”
San Francisco Business Times. By Ron Leuty. Here.
September 8, 2013
“Elizabeth Holmes: The Breakthrough of Instant Diagnosis.”
The pivotal Wall Street Journal article, by Joseph Rago.
HereA Stanford dropout is bidding to make tests more accurate, less painful – and at a fraction of the current price.
September 9, 2013
“Secretive Theranos emerging partly from shadows.”
SF BizJournal, SF/Biotech, by Ron Leuty, subtitled, “The biggest biotech you’ve never heard of.”
Here.
October 9, 2013
“Just a Drop Will Do.”
Pediatric News. By William Wilkoff. Here.
November 6, 2013
“What Heath Care Needs is a Real Time Snapshot of You.”
WIRED, By Daniela Hernandez.
Here.
November 13, 2013.
“One Small Ow-eee.”
PediaBlog. By Ned Ketyer MD. Here.
November 18, 2013
“Creative disruption? She’s 29 and Set to Reboot Lab Medicine.”
MedPageToday. By Eric Topol.
Here.
February 18, 2014
“This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood.”
WIRED again, by Caitlin Roper.
Here. WIRED revisits Holmes, with an interview.
February 28, 2014
“Stanford Dropout Revolutionizes Blood Tests”
Take Part, by Liana Aghajanian.
Here.
June, 2014
Hematology Reports (Open Access Journal). Full article PDF: Here.
Chan SM, Chadwick J, Young DL, Holmes E, & Gotlib J (2014). Intensive serial biomarker profiling for the prediction of neutropenic fever with hematologic malignancies undergoing therapy: a pilot study. Hematology Reports 6(2).
June 12, 2014
“This CEO is Out for Blood.”
Fortune, by Roger Parloff.
Here. Featured as cover story (
picture).
June 17, 2014
“Elizabeth Holmes, Who Wants To Shake Up The Blood Testing Industry, Is A Billionaire At 30.”
Forbes [blog], by – Zina Moukheiber.
Here.
July 2, 2014
“Bloody Amazing.”
Forbes [blog 7/2, and Issue, 7/21], by Mathew Herper.
Here.
June 3, 2014US Patent: “Systems and Methods of Sample Processing and Fluid Control in a Fluidic System.”
PDF, Patent 8,742,230 B2, 80 pp..
Here.
“This invention is in the field of medical devices…portable medical devices that allow real-tie detection of analytes from a biological fluid…for providing point-of-care testing for a variety of medical applications.”
June 20, 2014“Theranos: Small Sample, Big Opportunity.”
Decibio [Consultancy blog]. By Eric Lakin.
Here.
July 8, 2014
“Nanotainer Revolutionizes Blood Testing.” VIDEO
July 15, 2014“Meet Elizabeth Holmes, Silicon Valley’s Latest Phenomenon”
San Jose Mercury News, by Michelle Quinn.
Here.
July 15, 2014“Theranos bringing 500 new jobs to Scottsdale’s SkySong.”
Phoenix Business Journal. By Angela Gonzales.
Here. [SkySong is an ASU-affiliated tech park].
July 21, 2014“Meet Elizabeth Holmes, the Youngest Female Self-made Billionaire Changing the World with Medical Technology.”
Women’s ILAB, by Katherine Melescuic.
Here.
August 11, 2014
“Ignoring Lab Industry, Theranos Goes Its Way.”
“My Visit to Walgreens for Theranos Lab Tests.” DARK REPORT (Paper by subscription only). Table of contents
here.
September 8, 2014
TechCrunch / Youtube Interview with John Sheiber. VIDEO.Here.,For further details, see
here.
September 8, 2014
“Elizabeth Holmes takes Theranos’ blood test to tech movers, shakers.”
Biotech SF / Bizjournals – by Ron Leuty. Discussion of TechCrunch presentation.
Here.
September 29, 2014“This Woman’s Revolutionary Idea Made Her A Billionaire — And Could Change Medicine.”
Business Insider. By Kevin Loria.
Here. See also June 4, 2015.
September 30, 2014
“Queen Elizabeth: Mystique of Theranos founder grows with Forbes’ richest ranking.”
Biotech SF / Bizjournals – by Ron Leuty.
Here.
October, 2014“Health Plans Deploy New Systems to Control Use of Lab Tests.”
Managed Care. By Joseph Burns.
Here.
Does not directly cite Theranos. Cites contrasting viewpoints on the value of direct easy inexpensive test access:
October 1, 2014
“How One Entrepreneur is Transforming Blood Testing.”
Slate – by Kevin Loria.
Here. [Reprint from Business Insider, 9/29, above.]
October 16, 2014
“She’s America’s Youngest Female Billionaire – And a Dropout.”
by Rachel Crane. CNN/Money. Here. [Text & Video.]
October 27, 2014
“Theranos Due Diligence: Company Profile, SWOT Analysis, Market Opportunity.”
Decibio. Consulting group profile of Theranos and its valuation and market position (73 pages; $850). Here. Table of Contents, here. Additional description here.
November 7, 2014
TEDMED – Youtube – Elizabeth Holmes at TEDMED. VIDEO. Here.,For further details, see
here.
November 7, 2014
“Major Upside for Walgreens Stock”
InvestorPlace. By John Divine. Here.
“The single biggest catalyst for WAG stock in the future may be the company’s decision to partner with the privately held health-tech firm Theranos.”
December 8, 2014
Fortune/Youtube – Theranos Billionaire Founder Talks Growth. VIDEO.
Video interview with Pattie Sellers. Here.
For further details, see here.
December 8, 2014
“Here’s How the World’s Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire Shows People She’s In Charge.”
Business Insider. By Richard Feloni. Here.
December 8, 2014
“The New Yorker on the Promise, the Secrecy, and the Challenges of Super-Startup Theranos.”
MedCityNews. by Meghana Keshavan. Here.
December 12, 2014
“Behind the Curtain at Theranos.”
NBC News. (Video). Interview with Ken Auletta. Here.
For more detail, see here.
December 14, 2014
“Blood Test Innovation: Less Cost, No Big Needle”
Information Week/Healthcare. By Larry Stofko. Here.
January 28, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos: Transforming Healthcare by Embracing Failure.”
Youtube. Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Here.
February, 2015
“Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Health Care, 2015: #7, Theranos”
Fast Company (staff),
here.
February, 2015
“Vetting Theranos”
Laboratory Economics [trade journal, subscription]. By JonDavid Kipp.
Here.
February 2, 2015.
“CEO Q&A: Craig Hall.”
Real Estate Daily. By Christina Perez. Hall was early investor in Theranos.
Here.
February 3, 2015
“Breakthrough Branding: Theranos, with Walgreens, Revolutionizes Healthcare.”
Brand Channel. By Sheila Shayon.
Here.
February 3, 2015
“Will Theranos Turn the Lab Industry Upside Down?”
February 6, 2015
“Ten Things to Know about America’s Youngest Female Billionaire.”
Business Insider. By Koa Beck.
Here.
February 5, 2015
“Disruptive Technology Main Focus at Clinton Health Conference.”
California Healthline. By Lauren McSherry.
Here.
President Clinton, Fourth Annual Health Matters Activation Summit. “Access to health information is a basic human right,” said Elizabeth Holmes, a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur who founded Theranos, a blood analytics and diagnostics company. [President] Clinton, who applauded her work to provide low-cost testing to the general public, said the company is valued at $9 billion. See also at Clinton Foundation.org,
here.
February 10, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes – Theranos”
Upstart. By Teresa Novellino.
Here.
February 10, 2015
“Theranos CEO: Avoid Backup Plans.”
INC (from Stanford Business School.) By Deborah Peterson.
Here.
“I think that the minute that you have a backup plan, you’ve admitted that you’re not going to succeed.”
February 17, 2015
“Stealth Research: Is Biomedical Innovation Happening Outside the Peer-reviewed Literature?”
JAMA. By John P.A. Ionnanidis.
Here.
“Theranos is just one example among many for which major efforts and major claims about biomedical progress seem to be happening outside the peer-reviewed scientific literature…stealth research creates total ambiguity about what evidence can be trusted in a mix of possibly brilliant ideas, aggressive corporate announcements, and mass media hype.” See comment at Healthnewsreview.org
here (February 23, 2015).
February 27, 2015
“Tech company Theranos pushes consumer lab-testing bill.”
Arizona Republic. By Ken Tucker.
Here.
For legislative text,
here. For a blog on the topic,
here. For cloud version of the legislative text,
here. Article in March 2015 Laboratory Economics [subscription,
here.]
February, 2015
“Theranos: Blood Tests that Need Just a Tiny Sample.”
Walgreens website, “At the Corner of Happy and Healthy,” accessed 2/17/2015.
Here.
March, 2015
“Secret Shoppers Disappointed by Theranos.”
Laboratory Economics. By Jondavid Klipp.
Here (subscription).
Summarizes experiences of “secret shoppers” from Piper Jaffray, an Arizona lab, The Dark Report, and a California lab. Most reported 3-day results and many reported standard venipuncture.
March 2, 2015
“Meet the Most Impressive Woman on Forbes’ Female Billionaire List.”
Identities.Mic. March 2, 2015. By Julie Zeilinger.
Here.
March 5, 2015
“Millennials and Money: New Kids in the Forbes Billionaires Club.”
National Center for Business Journalism. By Rian Bosse. Elizabeth Holmes noted.
Here.
March 6, 2015
“Theranos Files Comment In Support Of Food and Drug Administration Oversight Of Laboratory-Developed Tests.”
Theranos Press Release.
Here.
The comment letter, dated 3/1/2015, 4 pages,
here.
March 7, 2015.
“Health care in America: Shock treatment. A wasteful and inefficient industry is in the throes of great disruption.”
The Economist. Theranos mentioned.
Here. Also
here.
March 9, 2015
“Theranos and Cleveland Clinic Announce Strategic Alliance to Improve Patient Care through Innovation in Testing.”
March 9, 2015
“Cleveland Clinic Taps Theranos, Bets on Cheaper Diagnostics.”
Healthcare Finance News. Anthony Brio.
Here.
March 9, 2015.
Fox News Cleveland Clinic/Theranos Interview. VIDEO.
Fox News Online.
Here. Additional notes,
here.
March 9, 2015
“Cleveland Clinic Enters ‘Long-Term Strategic Alliance’ with Theranos, Inc.”
Crain’s Cleveland Business. By Timothy Magaw.
Here.
March 9, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes: 2015 Horatio Alger Award Winner.”
Horatio Alger Association. Webpage,
here. Press release,
here.
March 13, 2015
“Theranos Seeks FDA Approval for Early-detection Ebola Test: George Schultz.”
Silicon Valley Business Journal. By Ben Soriano.
Here.
March 17, 2015
“Mark Cuban Talks Healthcare Investing: Soon Our Bodies Will Be Big Math Equations.”
MedCity News. By Stephanie Baum.
Here.
“Sensors are the next opportunity,” Cuban said. He also voiced his enthusiasm for companies like 23andMe and Theranos.
March 23, 2015
“Boies Schiller Set to Open Palo Alto Outpost.”
The Recorder. By Patience Haggin.
Here.
April 7, 2015
“Patients Can Soon Get Lab Tests Without Doctors’ Orders.”
Arizona Republic. By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez & Ken Alltucker.
Here.
April 8, 2015
“Theranos One Step Closer to Consumerizing Health.”
Decibio [Blog]. By Eric Lakin.
Here. [Arizona consumer test law.]
April 9, 2015
“Arizona Health Law Could Boost Theranos’ Biotech Prospects.”
USA Today [America’s Markets]. By Marco Della Cava.
Here.
April 16, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes.”
TIME [100 Most Influential People.] By Henry Kissinger.
Here.
April 17, 2015.
“How Elizabeth Holmes became inspired to transform blood testing.” VIDEO
April 20, 2015
“The Doctor is Out: LabCorp to Let Consumers Order Own Tests.”
Bloomberg. By Cynthia Koons.
Here., Also: In slightly different version, same author, Bloomberg Business Week, 4/27/15.
April 20, 2015
“What News at Theranos? Lab Firm Expands in AZ.”
“In Arizona, New Consumer Direct Access Law is a First Win for California-Based Theranos.”
“Theranos: Many Questions, but Very Few Answers.”
Dark Report (subscription).
Here.
April 27, 2015
“World’s Youngest Billionaire – Another Steve Jobs?”
CNBC. By Abigail Stevenson.
Here.
April 27, 2015
“Occam’s Razor and the Secrecy of Theranos. A Bunch of Crock? No.”
Medcitynews. By Meghana Keshavan.
Here.
April 28, 2015
“Guest List, State Dinner, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan.”
Washington Post.
Here. (Including Ms. Holmes.)
May 5, 2015
“Theranos Sticks It to Critics, Plans Expansion of Lab Services.”
San Francisco Business Times. By Ron Leuty.
Here.
“Can Theranos Disrupt the Clinical Lab Testing Market? An Objective Look at Advantages, Liabilities, and Challenges That Must Be Addressed.”
[Pathology] Executive War College. By Dr. Robert Boorstein. [Deck] Here.
May 7, 2015
“Theranos Jump Starts Consumer Lab Testing.”
Fortune. By Ron Parloff.
Here.
“My last routine blood tests, drawn at my physician’s office…cost me $433 out of pocket, even after application of my “gold”-level insurance….Had I not been insured, the lab’s price for those tests would have been $2,411, according to the explanation of benefits sent me. The same tests, according to Theranos’s price menu, would have cost me $75.”
May 7, 2015
“New Laboratory Testing Firm Seeks to Shatter Old Diagnostic Testing Model.”
May 7, 2015
“Silicon Valley Lab Testing Startup Hires Clinton Advisor.”
Bloomberg. By Caroline Chen.
Here. (Similarly:
Here.)
May 11, 2015
“Our Editor Describes Visit to Theranos Test Center.”
Dark Report. (Subscription).
Here.
Sidebar: “Comparing Patient Visit with Advertised Benefits.”
May 11, 2015
“Airbnb Chesky, Theranos Holmes among presidential entrepreneurs.”
USAToday. By Marco della Cava.
Here.
Winners met with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and President Obama.
May 11, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes on Joining the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship Initiative.”
Theranos/news/posts. By Elizabeth Holmes.
Here.
June 2, 2015.
Elizabeth Holmes: Charlie Rose. VIDEO.
Here. Comment, Kevin Loria, June 4, 2015.
June, 2015
“Collecting More Dollars From Patients: Why It’s Time For Clinical Labs and Pathology Groups to Move To The Retail Model.”
Dark Report [Trade journal, white paper].
Here.
This white paper does not mention “Theranos” but covers the topic of retail access to laboratory tests.
June 19, 2015
“Personalized Technology Will Upend the Doctor-Patient Relationship.”
Harvard Business Review. By Sundar Subramanian et al.
Here.
June 21, 2015
“The Benefits to Your Brain of a Work Uniform.”
Providence Journal [Chicago Tribune]. By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz.
Here.
June 22, 2015.
“With Carlos Slim, Billionaire Elizabeth Holmes Brings Innovative Blood Testing Method To Mexico.”
Forbes. By Dolia Estevez.
Here.
June 23, 2015
“Theranos’ New Deal with Billionair Carlos Slim May Take It to Another Level.”
Biz Journal SF. By Ron Leuty.
Here.
July 2, 2015
“Controversial Multibillion-Dollar Health Startup Theranos Just Got a Huge Seal of Approval from the US Government.”
Business Insider. By Laren F Friedman.
Here.
July 2, 2015
“Disruptive Diagnostics Firm Theranos Gets Boost from FDA.”
Fortune. By Roger Parloff.
Here.
July 3, 2015
“Theranos Blood Test: The Insanely Influential Stanford Professor Who Called the Comapny Out for its ‘Stealth Research.’ “
Washington Post. By Ariana Eunjung Cha.
Here.
July 24, 2015
“Biden Visits Theranos Lab as Part of Healthcare Innovation Summit”
USAToday. By Marco della Cava.
Here.
Theranos Press Release,
here. The Suffield Times,
here.
July 24, 2015
“Theranos Pushing Direct to Consumer Blood Testing.”
Health IT Outcomes. By Christine Kern.
Here.
July 30, 2015
“Theranos’ Holmes Marks 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid with Vision for Next 50 Years.”
Business Wire [press release].
Here.
August 11, 2015
“Nickles Takes On Theranos.”
O’Dwyer PR Inside News,
here. (Nickles is a Washington policy group).
August 17, 2015
“A Good Month for Blood.”
Laboratory Equipment. By Michelle Taylor.
Here.
August 19-20, 2015
“Leveraging Pharmacies for Rapid Diagnostics.”
7th Annual Next Generation Diagnostics Summit (Two-Day Track on Pharmacies).
While not specific to Theranos, a two-day meeting on lab tests in the pharmacy space.
August 24, 2015
“Labcorp is Reaching Past Doctor’s Office to the Patient.”
Investors Business Daily. By Gillian Rich.
Here.
October 5, 2015
“Elizabeth Holmes on Using Business to Change the World.”
Forbes. By Sarah Hedgecock.
Here.
October 6, 2015
“Self Made Billionaire on Re-inventing Blood Tests: It’s Like Cocaine.”
Vanity Fair. By Emily Jane Fox.
Here.
October 6, 2015
“How Theranos is Disrupting the Health Care Industry.”
Bloomberg. [VIDEO 6:38 min.]
Here.
“A cholesterol test is $2.99, whereas it could cost hundreds in other locations…The response from the lab industry, they have so aggressively seeded false information about us into the press, into journalists, into physicians in the market we are in.”
October 7, 2015
“Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes to Deliver Keynote Address at 2015 Medical Innovation Summit.”
Craigs Cleveland Business.
Here.
October 12, 2015
“Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes Call on Women to Help Each Other.”
Fortune. By Michael Lev-Ram.
Here.
October 12, 2015
“CME Group Announces Elizabeth Holmes as the 2015 Melamed-Arditti Innovation Award Receipient.”
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