Valued at nearly $10 billion dollars,
Theranos and its CEO were flying high in Silicon Valley,
but the blood-testing startup
wasn’t all that it seemed.
My first tip came in early 2015.
A former employee who had agreed to talk anonymously
was alleging the possibility of fraud
and public endangerment,
so I talked to my editor, Mike Siconolfi,
and he agreed I should investigate.
I began tracking down corroborating sources,
which wasn’t easy due to the NDAs everyone had signed.
After months spent collecting the accounts
of whistleblowers, doctors, and patients,
it became clear that Theranos was misrepresenting
the scope and the accuracy of their technology.
When we confronted them with our findings,
they responded by threatening us with litigation,
intimidating our sources,
and pressuring us to kill the story.
Despite the harassment and legal threats,
the Journal held its ground
and published my 10-month long investigation in October of that year.
The response was explosive.
People woke up to the excesses of the Silicon Valley boom.
Eventually, federal health regulators
corroborated our reporting,
forcing Theranos to void tens of thousands of blood tests
that could have endangered the public.
The SEC and Justice Department also launched investigations,
triggering a wave of lawsuits and dire consequences
that would heavily impact the company.
To this day, the fallout continues,
and I intend to cover it to the very end.
My name is John Carreyrou,
and I’m an Investigative Reporter
for The Wall Street Journal.
