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Original poster

Elizabeth Holmes: Theranos founder convicted of fraud DEEP VOICE

93 replies

bubblesbubbles11 · 04/01/2022 12:26

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59734254

Am I being unreasonable to think that anyone who listened to Elizabeth Holmes's very deep voice when she did public speaking (or even whilst in her business operations) should surely have thought something was not right, well before any scandal?

It is so bizarre to listen to.

OP posts:
Aposterhasnoname · 04/01/2022 12:28

Am I missing something? What’s her voice got to do with it?

ZoeTheThornyDevil · 04/01/2022 12:28

Well, a lot of people did think it was weird/unusual. But it's a bit of a jump from "this woman has an unusually deep voice" to "this company valued at billions with an all-star development board is a lying fraud".

DontWiltMySpinachPlease · 04/01/2022 12:30

@Aposterhasnoname

Am I missing something? What’s her voice got to do with it?
I think she admitted during the trial that it was fake.
Aposterhasnoname · 04/01/2022 12:31

I think she admitted during the trial that it was fake

How bizarre

ZoeTheThornyDevil · 04/01/2022 12:33

I think she admitted during the trial that it was fake.

Well... and? Affecting a deeper voice than is natural to you is not exactly the fraud of the century. A lot of women who want to be taken seriously in male-dominated fields probably do it to some extent. Rightly or wrongly Wrongly, a high-pitched voice is taken less seriously than a lower-pitched one.

The Theranos case is fascinating, but not because Holmes altered her voice.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 04/01/2022 12:33

Did she say why she did that?

I'm honestly only on this thread for the weirdness. Grin

2TurtleDovesInARow · 04/01/2022 12:35

YANBU.

DH says it was put on. He's been following this story for years. It's all so odd. So relieved she's getting charged.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 04/01/2022 12:35

You are right - Thatcher affected the deep voice thing and she was a fake, great post OP.

SlowBoiledFrog · 04/01/2022 12:39

I am in awe. A graduate drop out becomes the youngest female billionaire with a fake product. The sheer audacity and brilliance to pull this off in the modern world is amazing. I agree she needs to serve time for the fraud but it is fascinating/terrifying how she pulled this off. In fact terrifying more than anything.

BringMeTea · 04/01/2022 12:40
Confused
Thevalley · 04/01/2022 12:42

Her old college professor did an interview for Australian news. Let's just say the professor saw straight through her from day one.
The professor said that her voice was put on ....weird.

Hoppinggreen · 04/01/2022 12:44

I am recovering from tonsillitis and sound like Barry White
As a consequence of this I fraudulently obtained £100million from investors this morning

SlowBoiledFrog · 04/01/2022 12:44

Let's just say the professor saw straight through her from day one.

So why didn't the shareholders, the investors (some very well known people) the 800 people she employed, the patients etc. Greed for the former? Desperation for the latter? It is fascinating

poorbuthappy · 04/01/2022 12:46

It's a fascinating story - I recommend the podcast Bad Blood.

givethatbabyaname · 04/01/2022 12:47

She didn’t pull it off though Confused. The company tanked, everyone lost their money.

There’s no brilliance here. She wasn’t even a successful fraudster. Audacious, maybe. But so was Bernie Madoff.

She was a narcissistic, lying, thieving, fraudster. Absolutely nothing to admire.

VanCleefArpels · 04/01/2022 12:48

I’d thoroughly recommend The Dropout podcast which explains it all. There a second season covering the trial which includes some great contributions from a tech investor that was offered a piece of Theranos but swerved - he talks about investor FOMO - people trying to get on the latest hot thing without doing proper due diligence. The investors that testified at trial came across as naive and certainly did not dig in beyond what EH was telling them before they threw literally hundreds of millions of dollars at her

actiongirl1978 · 04/01/2022 12:49

I read the book Bad Blood. Apparently she had a very light girly voice in 1:1s and then put the fake voice on.

The book is very interesting in the relationship between her and the finance guy 'Sonny'.

Fascinating story.

VanCleefArpels · 04/01/2022 12:51

She used a coercive control “defence” vis a vis Sonny. Obviously didn’t work. He’s due for trial now - I’m sure his legal people are going to try to cut a deal given the outcome in Elizabeth’s trial. He chose to have separate trials obviously gambling on her being acquitted. Oops.

Ozanj · 04/01/2022 12:51

She got convicted because US courts don’t really consider domestic abuse / violence properly in trials against women. I would expect her to appeal as it seems it was her abusive ex-partner who was the one responsible for the finances. So any requests for wire fraud would have to have been instigated by him & there probably is a paper trail
as he will soon be trialled too.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 04/01/2022 12:52

@Hoppinggreen

I am recovering from tonsillitis and sound like Barry White As a consequence of this I fraudulently obtained £100million from investors this morning
Excellent work.
Original poster
bubblesbubbles11 · 04/01/2022 12:52

FAOD I have absolutely nothing against any person at all with a deep voice.

I have just watched a few of her (quite historic) interviews and talks and, combined with the corporate jargon and soundbites she deploys throughout, I just think had I been sitting in the audience at the time I would have found it odd. Of course I would not claim to have had any kind of crystal ball into what was going on in the way she was running the business as a result of hearing her speak.

OP posts:
Welshmaenad · 04/01/2022 12:52

@actiongirl1978

I read the book Bad Blood. Apparently she had a very light girly voice in 1:1s and then put the fake voice on.

The book is very interesting in the relationship between her and the finance guy 'Sonny'.

Fascinating story.

Bad Blood is an excellent book, the way she managed to keep defrauding people for so long is fascinating and terrifying. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the scandal.
purplesequins · 04/01/2022 12:53

it's a fascinating case.
her idea was great in the beginning but instead of conceding that healthcare has different requirements to say, a smart thermostat, she and her company kept bluffing and boasting and never delivered the ground breaking product she was claiming.

the bad blood podcast is good. as is the bad people episode on this (which also mentions her unusual voice).

I feel sorry for her young daughter

ZoeTheThornyDevil · 04/01/2022 12:53

@Thevalley

Her old college professor did an interview for Australian news. Let's just say the professor saw straight through her from day one. The professor said that her voice was put on ....weird.
Curious that he wasn't one of John Carreyrou's key sources in his exposé then. Why did the prof sit on this insight until after Carreyrou had already exposed her?

Her closest professor at Stanford was one of her biggest cheerleaders and absolutely bought into the hype. It's easy to have known all along in hindsight.

SlowBoiledFrog · 04/01/2022 12:54

@givethatbabyaname

She didn’t pull it off though Confused. The company tanked, everyone lost their money.

There’s no brilliance here. She wasn’t even a successful fraudster. Audacious, maybe. But so was Bernie Madoff.

She was a narcissistic, lying, thieving, fraudster. Absolutely nothing to admire.

If she had pulled it off (which I am sure some have) we wouldn't know about it. I do agree with all you have written but the audacity is mind-blowing, she raised billions, it seems beyond belief, if it was a film you would think it far fetched.

Thanks for the recommendations of books and podcasts.