Tyler Shultz is not the only accuser of Theranos, but he was the first to report troubling findings at the company to regulators. At the time, it was a risky and bold move, but it helped hasten the scrutiny that would eventually lead to the company’s downfall. Shultz is photographed at his family’s home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
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Tyler Shultz is not the only accuser of Theranos, but he was the first to report troubling findings at the company to regulators. At the time, it was a risky and bold move, but it helped hasten the scrutiny that would eventually lead to the company’s downfall. Shultz is photographed at his family’s home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
As the Elizabeth Holmes jury deliberations entered their second week, Tyler Shultz was perplexed.
“I decided to settle by playing the guitar very loudly,” said Shultz, a former Theranos employee who played a key role in exposing the once hyped blood-testing startup. his neighbours”. “I had a lot of suspenseful energy.”
For Shultz, the moment has been building for a while. He blew the whistle for Theranos when he was 22 years old. Now 31, he’s ready for closure.
Shultz, said in a lengthy interview with NPR, during a lengthy interview with NPR, from a motel room at his parents’ home in Los Gatos, Silicon Valley, said: “This story took place in throughout my adult life.
On Monday, his phone showed a text from his wife, saying, “It’s a capital letter: GUILTY.”
The jury convicted former CEO Theranos Holmes on four fraud charges related to investor fraud. The judges also acquitted her of four counts of patient fraud. The panel reached an impasse on three other charges related to investor fraud. It’s a mixed verdict.
For Shultz, it was something else: the end.
“Suddenly, it was just a weight lifted,” Shultz said. “It’s over. I can’t believe it’s over.”
And that, he says, is worthy of a funky toast.
“My family said come down, we’re drinking champagne. We’re celebrating,” he said.
Shultz is not the only Theranos accuser, but he was the first to report troubling findings at the company to regulators. At the time, it was a risky and daring move and it came at a heavy cost for Shultz. But it did help speed up the scrutiny that would eventually end in the company’s downfall.
From Inspiration to Disillusionment: The Story of Theranos by Shultz
It all started in 2011, when Shultz was just a college student. He is visiting his grandfather, former Secretary of State George Shultz, at his home near the Stanford campus.
Your grandfather wants you to meet someone. Her name is Elizabeth Holmes.
“She was dressed in all-black, turtleneck. She had unblinking, deep blue eyes. I heard her deep voice,” he said, describing the traits that define a chief executive. engaging technology.
When she started talking about Theranos, a company she dreamed of at 19, in a Stanford dorm room, Shultz’s curiosity was piqued.
The idea was to make blood testing faster, easier and less painful with just a finger prick – all on an innovative device Holmes invented called the Edison. Shultz, a biology major, wants to be part of that revolution.
When Elizabeth Holmes began talking about Theranos, the company she dreamed of at 19, in a Stanford dorm room, Shultz’s curiosity was piqued. He will then work at Theranos as an intern. Tyler Shultz is pictured at his family home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
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When Elizabeth Holmes began talking about Theranos, the company she dreamed of at 19, in a Stanford dorm room, Shultz’s curiosity was piqued. He will then work at Theranos as an intern. Tyler Shultz is pictured at his family home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
“She immediately drew me into her vision, and I asked her, ‘is there any way I can come work at Theranos as an intern after my senior year?'”
And he did. Finally, he became a full-time employee. But just eight months after being hired, he will step down.
Shultz worked countless hours in the lab. Armed with this scientific know-how, he quickly realized something was amiss when he peered inside the Edison device.
“There is nothing Edison can do that I cannot do with a pipette in my own hand,” he said.
Then he made another alarming discovery: when Theranos completed its quality control safety checks, it was running tests not on the Edison, but on commercially available lab equipment. That doesn’t seem right.
“It is clear that there is an open secret in Theranos that the technology does not exist,” said Shultz.
This encouraged Shultz to blow the whistle. He contacted state regulators in New York by alias. He has worked with…The Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou to reveal Theranos’ flaws and exaggerations.
“I wouldn’t have been able to break this story without Rosendorff, Tyler and Erika,” Carreyrou told NPR, referring to Shultz and two additional Theranos whistleblowers, Adam Rosendorff and Erika Cheung. “Tyler and Erika are authoritative sources, and that’s absolutely important.”
For Shultz, it’s not the path of least resistance.
“It would be easier if I quietly gave up and moved on with my life,” he said. “And that’s really what my parents advised me to do when I was a 22-year-old fresh out of school.”
But he was determined to take the harder route. And that involved confronting his grandfather, a legendary statesman who also had a seat on the Theranos board.
“He didn’t believe me. He said Elizabeth had assured me they were far above all regulatory standards,” he said. “I think you got it wrong what he told me.”
Shultz warned his famous grandfather: Hold Holmes accountable
Many of the names that made up the Theranos board – former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Former Senator Sam Nunn – were recruited by Shultz.
And Tyler Shultz repeatedly tried to save his grandfather’s legacy, but he was still rejected.
“I said I know you got all your friends into this, and you feel you need to be there to protect your friends, but there’s still a chance for you to free them,” he said. he said. “You can guide the board to do the right thing and hold Elizabeth accountable.”
George Shultz won’t convince.
For young Schultz, being separated from his grandfather was just the beginning. Becoming a Theranos whistleblower will soon turn into a much bigger nightmare. Before long, he was dealing with the private investigators Holmes hired to track him down. The lawyers tried to intimidate him. Holmes tries to ruin his life.
Tyler Shultz mostly watched the trial remotely from his San Francisco apartment. However, he did show up once, while concluding arguments and sitting in the court’s overflow room. He said it provided him with a closing number to be able to watch the trial live. Shultz is photographed at his family’s home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
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Tyler Shultz mostly watched the trial remotely from his San Francisco apartment. However, he did show up once, while concluding arguments and sitting in the court’s overflow room. He said it provided him with a closing number to be able to watch the trial live. Shultz is photographed at his family’s home in Los Gatos.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
Shultz mostly watched Holmes’ trial remotely, reading social media and news, from his San Francisco apartment.
However, he did show up once, while concluding arguments and sitting in the court’s overflow room. He said it provided him with a closing number to be able to watch the trial live.
“I just wanted to listen to the closing argument and make it feel real, rather than following your life through the Twitter feed,” he said.
However, he didn’t want to create a scene.
“I was wearing a jacket. I pulled my hood down so that no one could see me,” he said.
Reporters eventually recognized him, but he did not want to share his thoughts until a verdict was reached.
You think the blood test works? Poke the judge’s nose
Today, Shultz runs her own biotech startup that focuses on women’s fertility issues. He is convincing investors and making big promises.
“I’m under pressure to exaggerate tech claims, overstate revenue forecast statements. Sometimes investors will tell you straight up, you need to double, quadruple or 10 times any revenue forecast you consider realistic,” he said.
In a strange twist, the experience led him to compare himself to his now-infamous former boss.
“I can see how this environment can produce an Elizabeth Holmes,” says Shultz.
Shultz is on the government’s witness list. He was never called to the witness stand, though he was unclear why.
“I guess my emails just speak for themselves,” he said.
But he imagined a scenario, partly jokingly, that if summoned to court, he would show up with an Edison device.
“Pick the judge’s finger and see what happens,” said Shultz with a laugh. “And it won’t work. I know with 100% confidence that it will never happen. They will never be able to prove me wrong.”
