Hello pod, I'm Chris Hewitt and welcome to another glorious team up of the Empire podcast

and pilot TV podcast teams in association with Disney+.

This episode is dedicated to examining and exploring the draw-bout, the new show on Disney

Plus that examines the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of a health tech company

called Theranos, not Theranos or Thanos Chimbo, I'm very, very sad to tell you.

Theranos was right.

Theranos was right and driving force behind the invention of a system for testing people's

blood, all based on a simple prick of a finger, rather than ramming a needle into a feint.

It would have revolutionized the medical industry, but for one small problem.

The tech didn't work, something that Holmes and Theranos went to great lengths to hide

over a number of years.

Along the way Theranos was hailed as a huge success, it was valued at around $9 billion

and Holmes, who had dropped out of Stanford University to pursue her idea, hence the name

of the show was hailed as one of the brightest minds in tech startups.

Ultimately though the house of cards she had built, this is a science bit by the way folks.

Ultimately though the house of cards she had built along with her partner, Ramesh Sonny

Balwani, came crashing down amidst an onslaught of whistle blowing from inside the company

a litany of court cases and investigations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission

aka the SEC, the upshot in 2018 the SEC charged Holmes with deceiving investors by massive

fraud, that's a quote, and was fined half a million dollars.

She returned nearly 19 million shares in Theranos and was banned from serving as an officer

or director of a public company for 10 years.

...