On Monday, 37-year old Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of four counts of fraud. These convictions were related to the false claims made by the blood testing startup Theranos. She had founded the company in 2003 and had received huge investments from several high profile people from different businesses such as tech, retail, law, sports and more.
Who were these people and why did they invest in Theranos?
According to research and reports through years, some of the major investors in Theranos included
Rupert Murdoch
Henry Kissinger
Larry Ellison
Betsey DeVos
Walmart founders
Jim Mattis
Robert Kraft.
Rupert Murdoch invested $25 million in Theranos. The media mogul was an early investor and finally invested $125 million. He sold his stake for one dollar and wrote off the investment as a loss and might have saved millions in taxes.
The Walton family invested about $150 million. They had invested in Theranos using two separate entities, as per the investors list.
The DeVos family invested about $100 million. Betty DeVos, the Education Secretary during the Trump administration, was one of the investors.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison was introduced to Holmes by Don Lucas of Lucas Venture Group. It has been reported that he had invested in Theranos but the amount has not been confirmed.
Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State invested three million in Elizabeth Holmes’ company while his lawyer Daniel Mosley doubled his investment to 6 million.
James Mattis put in $85,000 of his money and was also a board member of Theranos with an annual salary of $150,000. He left the board as he was disillusioned by the founder. The four star general became the Defense Secretary under the Trump administration a year after he left Theranos.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also invested $1 million in Theranos.
Elizabeth Holmes managed to create a persona and attracted many old, rich and powerful men as well as women and they invested in her startup Theranos. Now, she is facing a prison term for committing “massive fraud.”
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