Theranos is boasting of 'highest levels of accuracy' in mailings to Rupert Murdoch and other investors

October 21, 2021: According to court testimony on Tuesday, Theranos sent binders claiming the healthcare company had “the highest levels of accuracy” to high-profile investors, which include billionaire Rupert Murdoch.

Elizabeth Holmes once had some of the most influential business leaders in America backing her start-up, Theranos. The revelations are emerging in the seventh week of Holmes’ criminal fraud trial in San Jose.

Daniel Edlin, a former project manager recruited by Holmes’ brother Christian, testifying that he would prepare binders on Theranos to send to investors “based on an approved checklist of items,” and added that “Elizabeth asked to review them.” Holmes approved them, Edlin testified, he would send the binders to the investors.

Jurors are showing the investment binder sent to Murdoch, investing $125 million in Theranos. One section of the binder read, “Theranos offers tests with the highest level of accuracy.” Another team said the blood-testing technology “generates higher integrity data compared currently possible.”

Even though the Fox and News Corp. founder is losing his investment in Theranos, it didn’t significantly impact Murdoch’s overall wealth. Today he’s estimated to be nearly $9.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In 2015, in an email from January, Holmes wrote to Murdoch: “It was wonderful to have you today. I so look forward to the opportunity to continue our conversations, which include one day a more detailed conversation on China. It would be an honor to have you be part of our company.”

The coming day, a Theranos scientist emailed Murdoch’s blood test results to Edlin and Daniel Young, a Theranos vice president. “CO2 is runway earlier than usual, so it’s a bit high. What do you want to do with it?” the scientist wrote. “We have no sample for rerun since it was a short draw.” Edlin testified they couldn’t rerun the test as they didn’t draw enough blood from Murdoch.

Holmes secured over $900 million from investors over a decade. Her healthcare company is promising to run hundreds of tests with just a drop or two of blood. But former Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou published a series of investigative reports revealing the inaccuracies of the blood tests.