Comment by mrguyorama

The entire organization was made up of rich idiots with no domain expertise throwing money at a young lady because she wore a turtleneck and claimed to be the next steve jobs. Meanwhile there were actual scientists involved, including the CSO and a former director of the CDC, and they never blew the whistle, so they either never thought to ask for a demo of the magic science product, or they were in on it.

It was never going to do anything productive. It wasn't even an elaborate con, she just lied to people's faces and they never even considered whether they should verify her claims.

Theranos is a great example of how pathetically incompetent and stupid you can act as a rich person and STILL come out pretty well. Nobody did any due diligence because they almost never do due diligence and it almost never hurts them.

Meanwhile I have to do due diligence on the damn clothing I buy or it probably won't even fit.