Per reporter: Zhu Peng Per editor: Dong Xingsheng
On one side is Clinton, on the other side is Ma Yun, sitting in the middle Elizabeth Holmes and political and business celebrities talking. When you are watched by her big blue eyes, impressed by her clear thinking and lofty ambitions, it is difficult to imagine that this entrepreneurial rising star who was once regarded by Silicon Valley as the "next Jobs" was actually "the first female liar in Silicon Valley".
Holmes, Clinton, and Ma Yun went to the forum together with video screenshots
In New York, Anna, who bears the aura of Europe's rich second generation, shows off her wealth on social networking sites every day. She was either on her way to a private jet or at a luxury hotel, planning to borrow $22 million to set up an art foundation. But when the bank tracked down the debt, it was found that it was a fake woman who had been created by a counterfeiter.
Holmes fooled the Silicon Valley elite and business tycoons, while Anna confused the entire New York high community. These are two stories that have really happened.
Another thing the two stories have in common is that they have both adapted into film and television dramas. "Fictional Anna", based on Anna's story, was adapted by Netflix, and recently, Hulu launched a series adapted from "Silicon Valley's first female liar", "Dropout".
"Dropout" and "Fictional Anna" two TV series promotional posters Image source: Douban
From dropouts from elite schools to fraudsters
Holmes and Anna did not know each other, on the contrary, the two came from different countries, had different upbringings, and engaged in completely different industries. But they share many common labels — school dropouts, master of speech, good at packaging, and fraudsters.
In 2003, Holmes, a sophomore in stanford's chemical engineering department, dropped out of school and used his tuition to start Theranos, a blood testing company. Elite schools, dropouts, entrepreneurship, the classic Silicon Valley story begins.
Holmes envisioned a new blood detector called "Edison." In the future, patients will not have to go to the hospital hungry in the morning to queue up for blood testing, but only need to take a test tube at the designated health center with "Edison" equipment, and then puncture the finger and drip a few drops of blood. After 4 hours, a report sheet of more than 240 test results will be released, ranging from cholesterol to cancer. Convenient and precise, the "Edison" that subverts the traditional detection system ignites the ambitions of Silicon Valley's venture capital giants.
Elizabeth Holmes attends a Wall Street Journal forum meeting in 2015 Image source: Video screenshot
In 2015, North Atlantic invited 101 Silicon Valley CEOs, investors, and think tank members to conduct a discussion on "Which Startup Will Change the World?" " vote. The results show that Theranos is second only to Tesla.
But the myth of Holmes changing the world was punctured by a report. In 2015, a Wall Street Journal article pointed out that Theranos were an out-and-out scam company.
According to reports, in order to maintain the "one drop of blood" test slogan that has been played out, Holmes and the company's CEO Sonny bought a traditional blood testing machine from Siemens and other companies, and attributed the results of the test with the traditional machine to "Edison". In addition, in order to make up for the lack of blood collection, Holmes even chose to dilute blood samples for related tests.
Subsequently, Theranos was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and officially closed down in 2019.
In January 2022, a jury found four counts of criminal fraud against Holmes. It was found to have deliberately deceived investors and patients and lied about Theranos' blood testing capabilities and business prospects. It is reported that Holmes may face up to 20 years in prison, but the final sentence will not be determined until the end of September this year.
Anna's story is not another entrepreneurial scam, but similarly, she also completes the scam by making up stories. At luxury hotels and overseas resorts in New York, Anna lives a life that did not belong to her. And the people who pay the bill are the New York high-class people who believe in her.
Anna Sorokin was arrested in court Image source: Video screenshot
According to public information, Anna was born in Russia to an ordinary family and moved to Germany with her family at the age of 16. He then entered the world's top art school, Central Saint Martins' College in London, but dropped out of school in less than a year. In 2012, Anna traveled to Paris to intern at the fashion magazine Purple. At the same time, she began to use the new name "Anna Delvi".
Fashion magazines gave Anna the opportunity to reach out to celebrities, going in and out of Fashion Week events, taking photos with "big names" and uploading them to social media. The image of a german antique tycoon Hendelvi family heir who spoke Russian, German and English, had a tasteful family, a well-connected family, was gradually established. In 2014, Anna moved to New York. In this metropolis, Anna's reputation is known to more people.
She began to fool her friends into paying for her luxuries, because everyone knew that she had a 60 million euros trust that needed to be 26 years old to use. For example, Anna invited Chinese collector Huang Xunfu to participate in the 2015 Venice Biennale, but asked Huang Xunfu to help book flights and hotels on the grounds that she only had cash on hand, saying that she would pay back the money afterwards. Of course, the money was not returned.
In May 2018, an investigative report written by New York magazine investigative journalist Jessica Presler revealed the beginning and end of the fake Anna fraud case. Afterwards, Huang Xunfu once said: "I heard the introducer say that she is very rich and often takes private jets. The money for booking tickets was not much, two or three thousand dollars, and then I didn't care. ”
Anna was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison, fined $24,000 and required to return $199,000 in a New York state court.
Why are elites "willing" to be deceived?
From the perspective of a bystander, it seems hard to believe that Anna can fool the upper class in New York by making a "self-declaration" alone. In the report exposing Anna's scam, there is a sentence that goes like this: "Looking at the souls of New York, Anna realized that if she attracted people's attention with shiny things, a lot of cash, symbols of wealth, they could hardly see anything else." ”
Before going to jail, Anna Solokin often posted photos of parties and photos with celebrities Image source Video screenshots
In the play "Fictional Anna", there is such a scene. New York's upper class gathered at a charity auction, and Anna was there. The famous woman Thalia Marai tells Anna that she will buy a painting, but Anna convinces her to buy Cindy Sherman's Untitled Movie Frame 17. Standing in front of the black-and-white photograph with champagne in hand, Anna told Maayi firmly and confidently, "The only thing of value here is it." ”
Anna convinces Maay to buy "Untitled Movie Still Frame 17" Image source: Video screenshot
The scene is not fictional. The prototype of the famous lady in the play said in a later interview that it was precisely because of that moment that Anna left a deep impression on herself, making her willing to believe that the girl with extraordinary artistic status in front of her belonged to the same world as herself, thus providing Anna with a lot of help in the later stage.
After the broadcast of "Imaginary Anna", an audience member on an American film review website wrote this comment: "Capitalism is a disease, and Anna Delvi is just a symptom of it." ”
Similar to Anna's scam, the success of Holmes's scam is also inseparable from its tireless packaging. At the beginning of her business, she tried her best to persuade her mentors to join her, and then used her connections and outstanding ability to draw cakes to form a "star board".
According to public information, former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, former Secretary of State George Schultz, former Admiral Gehry Roheed, and former CEO of Guoguo Bank Kovaschewicz have successively become members of their board of directors; while media tycoon Murdoch, Walmart's Walton family, Oracle founder Eriksen and others have invested funds in support.
With the big guys on the platform, Theranos's "fancy" entrepreneurial ideas were ignored, followed by snowballing exposure, praise and investment. Valuations are rising, and the hardships of starting a business seem completely absent here in Holmes.
Holmes has appeared on the cover of journals such as Fortune and Forbes, and has also become an interview subject of the New Yorker and the famous American talk show host Charlie Ross. In the face of the spotlight, she always passionately and spared no effort to repeat her determination and ambition to change the world.
Perhaps, for Silicon Valley and New York, which are accustomed to seeing "changing the world" and "invisible riches", what Anna said in an interview can explain the possibility of all this happening in some dimensions. "Capital in this world is unlimited, but really smart people are very limited," she said. ”
Some of the sources in this article:
1、《How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People》
2、《Elizabeth Holmes Is Living Large While Awaiting Her Sentencing》
3、《Fake Heiress Anna Sorokin, Who Swindled Elite, Faces Deportation to Germany》
4、《The Dark True Story of the Fake Science Behind Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos Invention》
5、《Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology》
Daily economic news