Silicon Valley’s Hypocrisy Over Elizabeth Holmes

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is back in the news in Silicon Valley. The jury in her forthcoming trial, in which she stands accused of defrauding investors and the public about the company’s blood tests, was selected this week. The trial starts next week and will last a few months. 

I was thinking about Holmes this week as I was processing the slew of reports and social media commentary. And there’s one thing about the reaction to her story that’s never sat well with me. 

Since The Wall Street Journal exposed her fraud, Silicon Valley investors, entrepreneurs and tech’s influential chattering types have been quick to distance themselves from Holmes. The attitude they shared again and again was essentially “She really wasn’t one of us.”