John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who exposed fraud at Theranos, explains when he knew he had the story, how so many other journalists missed it, what happened when Elizabeth Holmes asked Rupert Murdoch to kill his investigation and answers listener-submitted questions.
In 2015, the Wall Street Journal's John Carreyrou revealed that the blood tests developed by Theranos — the $9 billion company led by Elizabeth Holmes — didn't work. Now John's out with "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup," a book that offers new details about Holmes, her fraud and her efforts to kill his investigation.
John joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss how he got the story and walk through the Theranos timeline (starts at the 1:35 mark), how Holmes was able to attract staff, investors and media attention (12:00), why government regulators didn't spot the fraud (21:30), why staff were scared to blow the whistle (28:15), what Carreyrou thinks of reporters who missed the story and more on his journalistic process (33:30).
At the end, there's a lighting round of listener-submitted questions at 43:30.
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MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
John's initial story on Theranos in 2015: https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901
Fortune Magazine's 2014 cover story on Holmes, one of many laudatory articles: http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-blood-holmes/
John's new book, "Bad Blood." https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078VW3VM7/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Holmes and her lieutenant Sunny Balwani this month:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-files-criminal-charges-against-theranoss-elizabeth-holmes-ramesh-balwani-1529096005