Elizabeth Holmes wowed investors, board members and journalists with live, in-person demonstrations that made it seem like her blood-testing machine worked. But most of these demos were faked. Behind the scenes, the blood samples were tested either manually or on third-party lab equipment. It's an astoundingly bold deception that was enabled by a software application Sunny Balwani wrote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Neon Hum Media and LA Taco, this is Smoke Screen: The Sellout, a podcast about a politician dogged by allegations of corruption, harassment and pathological pettiness. It’s about the residents who fought gentrification even as their neighborhoods were auctioned off to the highest bidder.  And it’s about a community that feels the pain of betrayal – from one of their own.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the summer of 2013, as a deadline to launch in Walgreens stores loomed and Theranos was running out of money, Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani put in motion a covert plan to hack third-party blood-testing machines to hide the limitations of Theranos' technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We'll be back with new full episodes on October 21st. Here's a little preview of what we've been working on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host John Carreyrou and reporter Emily Saul discuss prosecutors' introduction of private texts between Elizabeth and Sunny, the testimony of retired general James Mattis, and the trial's most important witness so far: former lab director Adam Rosendorff, who said Theranos prioritized PR and fundraising over patient care.

Host John Carreyrou and reporter Emily Saul discuss prosecutors' introduction of private texts between Elizabeth and Sunny, the testimony of retired general James Mattis, and the trial's most important witness so far: former lab director Adam Rosendorff, who said Theranos prioritized PR and fundraising over patient care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For two years, Elizabeth Holmes enjoyed the type of glowing media coverage most entrepreneurs can only dream of. But then she gave one interview too many—an interview with The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta that planted the seeds of her downfall.

Elizabeth Holmes is the latest in a long line of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who’ve hyped and overpromised — sometimes to the point of outright lying. It’s that culture, as much as Holmes herself, that's on trial.

A note Elizabeth Holmes wrote to herself one night in late October 2014 suggests she knew she was committing fraud.

Elizabeth Holmes is likely to allege at trial that former Theranos President Sunny Balwani was an abusive boyfriend who held her in his thrall and deprived her of her free will. But text messages between the former lovers don’t back up that narrative.

If Theranos was still in business, would it have tried to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic? Based on how Elizabeth Holmes tried to use the 2014 Ebola epidemic to land a big investment, the answer is very likely yes.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, is headed to trial for allegedly defrauding investors and patients by misrepresenting the capabilities and accuracy of her blood-testing technology. Winning the jury’s sympathy is her best option to get acquitted. There are several ways she can do that.

Bad Blood: The Final Chapter tells the story of the breathtaking rise and fall of the tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. Hosted by John Carreyrou, the investigative journalist who broke the scandal, the season will give listeners a front row seat at Holmes's criminal trial and dive into the evidence against her. The first two episodes arrive August 26.