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Theranos Whistleblower Tyler Shultz: A Tale of Courage and Ethical Duty
In the annals of corporate fraud, few stories resonate as powerfully as that of Theranos, the Silicon Valley biotech startup that promised to revolutionize blood testing but collapsed under the weight of its own deception. At the heart of this saga is Tyler Shultz, a young whistleblower whose courage exposed the company’s fraudulent practices, sparking a reckoning that reverberated across the legal, business and medical worlds. As a professional ethics CLE instructor, adjunct law professor and disciplinary investigator, I’ve spent my career exploring the ethical dilemmas that define the legal profession. Recently, I partnered with Tyler to create a two-hour on-demand ethics CLE program for Law.com’s CLE Center, titled Fraud is Not a Trade Secret: An Interview with the Theranos Whistleblower and the Lessons of Attorney Ethics. This article recounts Tyler’s extraordinary journey and invites legal professionals to explore its lessons through our CLE program, which bridges his real-world experience with the ethical obligations enshrined in the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The Rise and Fall of Theranos
Founded in 2003 by Elizabeth Holmes, a 19-year-old Stanford dropout, Theranos captivated investors with a bold vision: a device called the Edison that could run hundreds of diagnostic tests from a single drop of blood. By 2014, the company was valued at $9 billion, and Holmes was hailed as the next Steve Jobs. Her board boasted luminaries like former Secretary of State George Shultz, who lent Theranos an aura of credibility. Yet, beneath the glossy narrative, the technology didn’t work. The Edison produced unreliable results, and Theranos relied on third-party machines to process tests, misleading investors, regulators and patients.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.