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The future of Elizabeth Holmes The verdict may be in, but the Elizabeth Holmes story is far from over. The head of Theranos, a phlebotomy startup that promised unprecedented diagnostic technology using only a few drops of blood, was on Monday found guilty of four counts of fraudulently deceiving investors. She was acquitted of four more charges, with the jury unable to decide on a further three. She is awaiting sentencing. Her lawyers will probably appeal and the jury’s deadlock on some charges may lead to another trial. But it is not just legal loose ends that will keep Ms Holmes in the news. Her tale of Silicon Valley hubris—a Stanford dropout whose company could not live up to its hype—burst out of the courtroom and into the popular consciousness. Throw in her claim that Theranos’s chief operating officer, Ramesh Balwani, manipulated her and there are the makings of a Hollywood film. In fact, one is currently in the works. The future of Elizabeth Holmes 伊丽莎白·霍姆斯（Elizabeth Holmes）的未来 王不留(wbliu85)注： 以“告别可怕的针头和采血试管”为口号，宣称不用针头，只需刺破手指获取几滴血便可以完成在专业医疗实验室内进行的多达240项医疗检查，从胆固醇到癌症几乎都能检测的血液检测创业公司Theranos，一度让硅谷甚至是整个世界为之沸腾。 创始人Elizabeth Holmes,曾一度致力于成为第二个乔布斯，19 岁从名校斯坦福辍学；并创立名为Theranos的血液检测公司。 她要改变的，是几乎与每个人的健康都息息相关的事情——将血液检测价格降低到 2.99 美元一次；她不断出来为自己公司的“终将改变世界”的新型血液检查技术站台，无数商业巨鳄为其投资…… 但这个看似不可能失败的故事，最终却被监管机构定性为欺诈而尴尬收场。 The verdict may be in, but the Elizabeth Holmes story is far from over. The head of Theranos, a phlebotomy startup that promised unprecedented diagnostic technology using only a few drops of blood, was on Monday found guilty of four counts of fraudulently deceiving investors. She was acquitted of four more charges, with the jury unable to decide on a further three. She is awaiting sentencing. Her lawyers will probably appeal and the jury’s deadlock on some charges may lead to another trial. 判决可能已生效，但伊丽莎白·霍姆斯（Elizabeth Holmes）的故事远未结束。Theranos是一家初创公司，承诺拥有只用几滴血就能测疾病的史无前例的诊断技术，该公司负责人周一被判四项欺诈投资者的罪名。她有四项以上的指控宣告不成立，同时，陪审团无法判定另外三项指控。她正等待判决。她的律师可能会上诉，陪审团在某些指控上的僵局可能导致另一场审判。
But it is not just legal loose ends that will keep Ms Holmes in the news. Her tale of Silicon Valley hubris—a Stanford dropout whose company could not live up to its hype—burst out of the courtroom and into the popular consciousness. Throw in her claim that Theranos’s chief operating officer, Ramesh Balwani, manipulated her and there are the makings of a Hollywood film. In fact, one is currently in the works. 但让霍姆斯成为新闻并不仅仅是法律上未解之事。她的硅谷疯狂骗局 — 一位斯坦福大家辍学者的公司并未实现当初承诺 — 从法庭上爆发出来，进入大众视野。加上她声称 Theranos 首席运营官 Ramesh Balwani 操纵了她，这就构成了一部好莱坞电影。事实上，有一部已列入拍摄计划。
王不留(wbliu85)注： 综合媒体报道，经过六天超过 40 个小时的审议之后，1月3日，陪审员裁定Theranos生化新创公司前任执行长Elizabeth Holmes 面临的 11 项欺诈指控中，有 4 项罪名成立，另外 4 项罪名不成立。Holmes 可能面临最高 20 年的监禁。 据报导，在11项联邦控罪中，Holmes 另外四项重罪获判无罪，还有三项罪名让陪审团成员则陷入僵局(deadlocked)。 据估计，Theranos 的估值一度超过 90 亿美元，但最终被挥霍一空。 “坏血事件”是“安然事件（the Enron Incident）”之后美国规模最大的企业欺诈案件。《纽约时报》评论，“这是一出硅谷的傲慢、野心和欺骗的传奇”。 而纵观伊丽莎白的履历，也是一出传奇：19岁斯坦福大学辍学、初创公司市值高达90亿美元、全球政商界的一众大佬纷纷为她站台、各大知名媒体争相报道……巅峰时期的伊丽莎白，曾跻身“全美四百大富豪榜”、入选“影响全球的百大人物”、被评选为“年度商业家”、被报道为“下一个乔布斯”或是“下一个比尔·盖茨”…… 然而仅仅是在次年，她又被称作为世上最让人失望的领导者”，资产估值从45亿美元更新为一文不值。她推出的“革命性血液检测设备”，号称仅通过指尖采血就能完成几百项血液检测项目，最终被揭露只是能检测几项血液指标的鸡肋产品，她成为了硅谷最大骗局的主角，更极可能因此面临炼狱之灾。 美媒曾指出，Theranos 从科技明星到阶下囚的跌宕人生，都是美国一些媒体在推波助澜，当年是媒体捧红了她，后来也是媒体揭穿了她的神话真面目。 在硅谷或许还有不少类似这样的虚假创业神话有待被揭穿。 |
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