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With just one drop of blood, she claimed to be able to perform hundreds of tests. On Monday, after more than three months of trial and seven days of deliberation, the former billionaire Silicon Valley star was convicted of fraud and fraud, a rare sanction in the tech world.
On the TV set with the cozy atmosphere of Fortune Magazine, the deep, penetrating voice of Elizabeth Holmes captivates. Her large, deep blue eyes gaze without wavering at a radiant horizon that she claims to be able to reach with her new product. A single drop of blood from the tip of a finger, she explains, is all it takes for her invention, the Edison, to perform hundreds of medical tests of all kinds. In record time. At record cost.
In a country where more than 40% of the population would give up seeking treatment or undergoing a medical examination for financial reasons, his discovery is celebrated with great fanfare. The face of this young blonde woman, who calls herself a phobic of injections, blooms on some of Fortune Magazine, Forbes and Business Week in this year 2014. We praise his intelligence, his charisma, his young age (not even thirty at the time). Thanks to it, people will soon be able to do their analyzes between two races or at home. Lives will be saved and never again, according to the formula hammered out by the entrepreneur, no one will have to “Say goodbye too soon” to a loved one. “Prodigy”is the term used by former President Bill Clinton to qualify it. Joe Biden, then Obama’s vice-president, prefers that of “visionary”. Problem: his Theranos business, then valued at $ 9 billion, was built entirely on wind.
Here it is today …