Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes turned her fraudulent blood-testing startup Theranos into a cautionary tale that rivals any academic scandal. She claimed her proprietary device could run hundreds of medical tests from a single drop of blood—a feat the technology never achieved. In reality, Theranos secretly used modified commercial analyzers, producing inaccurate results that endangered patients. Holmes defrauded investors of nearly $1 billion and misled the public about the device's capabilities. The fraud is less pervasive than #5 Diederik Stapel's 55 fabricated papers, but it inflicted direct physical harm, as patients received incorrect diagnoses. A federal jury convicted Holmes of four counts of fraud in 2022, sentencing her to 11 years in prison. The company's collapse led to over $700 million in shareholder losses.