On January 4, a U.S. federal jury convicted Elizabeth Holmes, known as the "female version of Jobs," on four counts of fraud, possibly up to 20 years in prison.
In 2003, sophomore Elizabeth Holmes created the blood testing company Theranos, which claims to be able to detect hundreds of diseases with just a needle eye and a drop of blood, as well as cheap exam fees. From 2010 to 2015, she raised funds as a gimmick, and in addition to the "female version of Jobs", she also won the title of "Blood Goddess".
Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos, once worth $9 billion, owns half of Theranos and has a net worth of $4.5 billion, and was named to the Forbes American Women's Wealth List. In June 2016, Forbes lowered her asset valuation to zero from $4.5 billion in 2015. Elizabeth Holmes then faced charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for involving massive fraud totaling $700 million.
At the beginning, there was no shortage of media and netizens at home and abroad touting her, who could have imagined that she was the richest woman in the United States 6 months ago, and her assets were 0 after 6 months. Even after Elizabeth Holmes was prosecuted, there are still many media outlets that believe that she dropped out of Stanford University and must have initially wanted to help patients, not scam investors.
Then again, the female version of XXX in recent years seems to have not been very good, and Cathie Wood, known as the "female version of Buffett", has recently lost a lot of investment. You know, the U.S. stock market does not have the concept of up and down, and if you don't pay attention, you may see it on the rooftop.
Of course, Catherine Wood is still lucky, but the investment loss is more serious, and there is still a chance to turn over in the future. Elizabeth Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison, and even her father, who works at the U.S. Agency for International Development and her mother, who served as a defense and foreign policy adjutant at congress, will not be able to save her.
Silicon Valley; Image source: pixabay
Elizabeth Holmes's original intention in creating Theranos may never be known, but a drop of blood to examine hundreds of diseases is obviously unattainable by existing technology. We usually want to come to a whole body test, draw two or three tubes of blood are less, one drop of blood is not enough for the test.
Such incidents are not uncommon in Silicon Valley, and Silicon Valley, full of opportunities and hopes, is also full of scams. As many investors make their fortunes in Silicon Valley, how many investors go bankrupt in Silicon Valley.