# Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case refers to the collapse of blood-testing startup Theranos and the fraud charges against its founder, which became online meme fodder in 2018 and 2019. Jokes centered on Holmes' unusually deep voice, her deposition tapes, and investor Tim Draper's Bitcoin-print tie. ## Overview Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case is the internet's reaction to the downfall of Theranos, a blood-testing startup whose founder was charged by the SEC with massive fraud in March 2018[1]. The meme cluster mixes true-crime fascination with Silicon Valley schadenfreude, aimed at Holmes personally, her investors, and the HBO documentary that dramatized the collapse[2]. The recognizable beats are a small set of running gags: Holmes' oddly low baritone (which many online insisted was affected), her repeated 'I don't know' answers in leaked deposition tapes[3], and a bizarre visual detail from investor Tim Draper wearing a tie covered in Bitcoin logos[3]. These bits got recycled into impressions, sketches, and image jokes across YouTube, Twitter and Reddit through early 2019. ## How It Spread The story went from business scandal to meme territory once video started circulating. On January 24th, 2019, Redditor tfresca posted an ABC News clip titled 'Ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes says I don't know 600-plus times in never-before-broadcast deposition tapes,' which pulled more than 33,000 points and 2,800 comments in under four months across r/videos and echoed into r/IAmA, r/Documentaries and r/The_Donald[3]. HBO's documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley premiered the same day, January 24th, 2019, and drove a second push of jokes[5]. On March 1st, 2019, YouTube channel ColdFusion uploaded 'Theranos, Silicon Valley's Greatest Disaster,' which passed one million views inside a month[3]. Screenshots of Tim Draper's Bitcoin-print tie from the film turned into their own recurring bit on Twitter[3]. The biggest running gag was Holmes' voice. On March 18th, 2019, YouTuber Alex Corn posted 'Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos) Real Voice,' claiming she faked the deep pitch[3]. Comedian Ingrid Ostby's impression sketch hit roughly 396,000 views and 7,700 likes over the next four days, host Busy Philipps did her own take on the Busy Tonight channel on March 20th, and writer Tavi Gevinson's Twitter impression cleared 500,000 views, 10,500 likes and 1,200 retweets inside 48 hours[3]. TMZ later ran a piece where Holmes insisted the voice was not fake, which fed the joke further[3]. ## How to Use The format is usually a Holmes voice impression, dropped low and monotone, paired with a Theranos punchline about fake tech, dodgy investors, or the deposition tapes. Common conventions include quoting 'I don't know' as a catch-all deflection, joking about the black turtleneck Steve Jobs cosplay, or pasting Tim Draper's Bitcoin tie into unrelated crypto disaster memes. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case? It's the online joke cluster around Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and the 2018 SEC fraud charges over her fake blood-testing technology[1]. ### Where did Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case come from? The story broke via a 2015 Wall Street Journal exposé and turned into memes after the March 14th, 2018 SEC complaint and the June 2018 federal wire fraud indictment[1]. ### What does Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case mean? Online it functions as shorthand for Silicon Valley hype fraud, the fake deep voice bit, and the 600+ 'I don't know' answers from her deposition tapes[3]. ### How do you use Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case? People typically do a low monotone Holmes impression or reference Tim Draper's Bitcoin-covered tie from the HBO documentary The Inventor to mock startup scams[5]. ### Is Elizabeth Holmes Theranos Fraud Case still popular? The meme was most active around the 2019 HBO documentary release and the wave of voice impressions from Ingrid Ostby, Busy Philipps and Tavi Gevinson, and is now a classic Silicon Valley scandal reference[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-41]() 2. [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/theranos-devos-other-investors-reportedly-lost-over-600-million.html]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-fraud-case]() 4. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-cost-investors-nearly-1-billion-court-documents-show-1525392082]() 5. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_inventor_out_for_blood_in_silicon_valley]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-fraud-case Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library