REUTERS/Mike Blake
Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former President Ramesh Balwani have been charged with “massive fraud” for deceiving investors about their technology and lying about their business relationships, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday. The SEC alleges that the start-up raised more than $700 million between 2013 and 2015 by "deceiving investors” and “making it appear as if Theranos had successfully developed a commercially-ready portable blood analyzer that could perform a full range of laboratory tests from a small sample of blood." The commission also alleged that the company overstated “the extent of Theranos' relationships with commercial partners,” including involvement with the military. The company could also only perform 12 out of the over 200 blood tests they had advertised. According to Theranos, Holmes settled with the SEC to pay a $500,000 fine and is now “barred from serving as a director or officer of a public company for 10 years.”