WTF is going on over at the Securities and Exchange Commission?!

No admission of guilt?!
Surrender 18.9M shares, (and voting control), of utterly worthless stock?!
Can’t serve as an officer or director of a public company for a decade?!
A laughably affordable $500,000 fine?!

Elizabeth Holmes, self-styled acolyte of Steve Jobs, (yes, of course I’m referring to the late technologist, also fond of stretching the truth), will not – I repeat not – be severely punished by the SEC – nope, not even a slap on the wrist – it’s more like a lousy pin prick… Sorry, I couldn’t resist. :-(

Let’s hope the Department of Justice aggressively pursues a criminal case against this public menace, (quote sourced from MarketWatch on Thursday):

Michael Rivera, an attorney with Shiff Hardin who served as chief investigative counsel for the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said, “It is not surprising, as has been reported, that Holmes remains subject to a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. Based on the allegations in the SEC complaint — and they are just allegations since there was no admission of guilt — this case presents the type of securities violations the Department of Justice might be interested in pursuing. The fact that the alleged fraud was not just financial but also presented a potential a harm to public safety is a further factor that could motivate DOJ to investigate.”

Let’s hope.

I stumbled across one of Maya Kosoff’s articles from the Vanity Fair website Thursday evening and thought it was worth adding to my post. Apparently the boys on Sand Hill Road are doing a little soul-searching after watching was has been described as a “…slow-motion car crash…”, a.k.a. the rise and fall of Theranos. Sure, venture capital firms were snookered, as were a whole host of other people, but the fact remains the charlatan primarily responsible for this disaster needs to be held accountable – and I do mean fully accountable – for her fraudulent behavior. Handing over what amounts to little more than confederate script, being sidelined for a while and writing a check doesn’t even come close!

One of the chagrined interviewed by Kosoff is quoted as saying:

“If what she’s been charged with is true, she’s a criminal who should be in prison.”

True ‘dat.

Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!