058 Theranos Whistleblower Tyler Shultz: Unveiling the Deception! — Transcript

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1. 0:00okay so get this right today we're going
2. 0:03deep on ambition controversy the whole
3. 0:07Visionary versus con artist thing oh
4. 0:10yeah we're talking Tyler Schultz and
5. 0:13Theos Theos Elizabeth Holmes blood
6. 0:16testing Revolution all that yeah it's
7. 0:18like where's the line between you know
8. 0:20real Innovation and just like deception
9. 0:23right exactly and we've got articles
10. 0:25interviews the whole nine yards to
11. 0:27untack but but we're not just like skim
12. 0:30in the headlines no no we're going
13. 0:32deeper why did Tyler Schultz grandson of
14. 0:36a thos board member become a
15. 0:38whistleblower right was Elizabeth Holmes
16. 0:40like a Visionary who messed up or was
17. 0:42she always a con artist a million-dollar
18. 0:44question and we can only answer it by
19. 0:46really looking at like all the evidence
20. 0:48right so Tyler Schultz he wasn't just
21. 0:50some like disgruntled employee right
22. 0:52this guy Stanford degree family tied to
23. 0:55the company and at first he really
24. 0:56believed in Theos yeah and that's what
25. 0:58makes this so interesting you have this
26. 1:00break guy 2013 joins Theos all
27. 1:03idealistic and he lands on the assay
28. 1:05validation team oh wow now for anyone
29. 1:08who's not a lab rat like me that means
30. 1:10he's making sure their fancy Edison
31. 1:11blood testing machines actually work
32. 1:13which is where things get interesting
33. 1:15assay validation it's super meticulous
34. 1:18okay running tests comparing results
35. 1:20making sure the technolog is accurate
36. 1:22reliable all of that tcha almost right
37. 1:24away Tyler's seeing red flags like what
38. 1:27data inconsistencies results that don't
39. 1:29don't add up and this like crazy culture
40. 1:32of secrecy oh there was one detail I
41. 1:35read this and it blew my mind they had
42. 1:38like barricades in the Theos building oh
43. 1:41blocking off sections employees some
44. 1:43there for years had never even seen the
45. 1:46Edison device it's bizarre it's like
46. 1:47they were creating this you know
47. 1:49Mystique around their Tech to avoid
48. 1:51anyone looking too closely yeah like
49. 1:52don't question us yeah and for Tyler it
50. 1:55was direct they gave him a list of words
51. 1:57he wasn't allowed to use when talking
52. 1:59about his job wait really with like a
53. 2:01band word list seriously if your Tech is
54. 2:03so revolutionary why all the secrecy it
55. 2:06just seems like they were hiding
56. 2:08something exactly and it wasn't just
57. 2:09secrecy there was a real atmosphere of
58. 2:11fear like don't question anything
59. 2:14especially Elizabeth Holmes classic
60. 2:16Don't Rock the Boat situation even if
61. 2:17the boat's sinking okay so we have
62. 2:19secrecy no criticism allowed and this
63. 2:23Tech that's raising doubts right then
64. 2:25comes the syphilis test study and that's
65. 2:27when things get serious for Tyler says
66. 2:30now it's ethical they claimed a 95%
67. 2:32sensitivity rate for their syphilis test
68. 2:35on the Edison meaning for every 100
69. 2:37people with syphilis it should correctly
70. 2:39identify 95 right but Tyler's
71. 2:42calculations showed the actual accuracy
72. 2:44was way lower so the tech was
73. 2:46potentially flawed and they're using it
74. 2:48to diagnose a serious disease with huge
75. 2:51implications for patients huge and Tyler
76. 2:54he's young but he gets it he sees how
77. 2:56these inaccuracies could really hurt
78. 2:57people right and now he's got to choose
79. 3:00stay quiet and be part of the problem or
80. 3:02speak up and risk it all it wasn't just
81. 3:05his career either right this is George
82. 3:07Schultz's grandson former Secretary of
83. 3:09State yeah huge supporter of Elizabeth
84. 3:11Holmes going against Theos meant going
85. 3:14against family that's a tough spot Truth
86. 3:17Versus loyalty conscience versus family
87. 3:19his future versus patient well-being
88. 3:22intense totally so what does he do what
89. 3:25did he do first he tries to go internal
90. 3:28talks to his grandfather father hoping
91. 3:30his connection with homes could fix
92. 3:32things make sense hoping for a course
93. 3:34correction does that go not well George
94. 3:37Schulz was all in on Holmes and her
95. 3:40vision dismissed Tyler's concerns told
96. 3:42him to trust the company o so what then
97. 3:46would Tyler do well he couldn't stay
98. 3:48silent so he did something bold he
99. 3:50contacted John KERO a reporter at the
100. 3:52Wall Street Journal anonymously wow and
101. 3:54he also filed a complaint with New York
102. 3:56State's Public Health lab anonymously
103. 3:58again about the messing with test
104. 4:00results he went outside the company
105. 4:02risking legal trouble his family that's
106. 4:05gutsy he was only 22 most people that
107. 4:08age wouldn't know where to start but he
108. 4:10knew he had to do something even if it
109. 4:12meant risking everything so Tyler Blows
110. 4:14the Whistle huge risk what happens Theos
111. 4:17went full defense they knew it was
112. 4:19serious they sent their lawyers David
113. 4:21boy the big gun wait David boy the guy
114. 4:25who represented Al Gore Harvey Weinstein
115. 4:27all those huge cases that's the one and
116. 4:30they played hard ball they showed up at
117. 4:31George Schultz's house Tyler was staying
118. 4:33there and basically threatened him with
119. 4:35lawsuits no way at his grandfather's
120. 4:38house that's just low total intimidation
121. 4:40tactic silence him protect Theos and
122. 4:43while George Schulz he was still loyal
123. 4:45to Elizabeth Holmes sided with the
124. 4:47company so Tyler's kind of out in the
125. 4:49cold even from his own family it's awful
126. 4:51this guy tries to do the right thing and
127. 4:53he gets legal threats family turns on
128. 4:55him it's like he's the bad guy that's
129. 4:57how it goes for whistleblowers sadly
130. 4:59people see them as disloyal
131. 5:01troublemakers and the cost is huge
132. 5:03financially reputation relationships it
133. 5:07was real for Tyler hundreds of thousands
134. 5:09of dollars in legal fees the stress must
135. 5:11have been incredible doing the right
136. 5:13thing can be expensive it makes you
137. 5:15wonder why are whistleblowers always
138. 5:17left hanging taking these huge risks the
139. 5:20big question goes beyond just Theos we
140. 5:23say we want transparency but when
141. 5:25someone actually speaks up they get
142. 5:27punished it's like we expect them to be
143. 5:29mark sacrifice everything for the truth
144. 5:31but they have lives families jobs
145. 5:34shouldn't be this hard right let's talk
146. 5:36about Elizabeth Holmes we she really a
147. 5:38Visionary who went off track or was she
148. 5:40always conning people it's the question
149. 5:43everyone asks and to get the answer you
150. 5:46got to look past the image the CEO
151. 5:48Persona and see what she was really
152. 5:49doing right she had this whole Persona
153. 5:51the black turtlenecks The Voice the
154. 5:54Steve Jobs comparisons it was all very
155. 5:56deliberate and she was a great
156. 5:57Storyteller sold this vision of easy
157. 6:00cheap painless blood tests thanks to her
158. 6:02revolutionary Tech it appealed to
159. 6:04everyone tapped into those hopes and
160. 6:06fears about Healthcare but the tech was
161. 6:08never the point was it it was the
162. 6:09promise the potential we'll have the
163. 6:11data soon just trust us exactly that's
164. 6:14classic con artist stuff right sell the
165. 6:17dream no proof and deflect any criticism
166. 6:20with that dream and Holmes was great at
167. 6:22deflecting she stacked her board with
168. 6:24big names Henry Kissinger George Schultz
169. 6:27former Senators defense people she was
170. 6:29using their credibility as a shield yeah
171. 6:32to shut down any doubt smart strategy
172. 6:34even if it wasn't very ethical these
173. 6:37were super accomplished people and their
174. 6:39being on the board made Theos seem
175. 6:41Untouchable who's going to question them
176. 6:43especially when it's this young woman in
177. 6:44the face of Silicon Valley making the
178. 6:46claims but how did she fool so many
179. 6:48smart people for so long was it all just
180. 6:50Charisma or what I think it was a few
181. 6:53things first the story itself people
182. 6:55wanted to believe it they ignored red
183. 6:57flags because they hoped it was real K
184. 6:59Revolution that's a big deal right and
185. 7:01second that secrecy and fear in Theos
186. 7:04anyone who questioned anything got shut
187. 7:06down so basically nobody could speak up
188. 7:09exactly so you have a great story a
189. 7:11culture of fear and a carefully made
190. 7:13image that let holes stay in control for
191. 7:16a long time it couldn't last forever
192. 7:18right nope Tyler's whistleblowing
193. 7:20started getting attention people started
194. 7:22doubting Theos then the Wall Street
195. 7:25Journal publishes those articles
196. 7:26exposing the fraud the bad Tech over for
197. 7:29Theos exactly everything collapses
198. 7:33Holmes goes from Visionary to fraud it's
199. 7:35a cautionary tale right ambition out of
200. 7:38control a good story and people not
201. 7:40thinking critically but it's also about
202. 7:42courage one person saying No this is
203. 7:45wrong and that's Tyler he paid a big
204. 7:47price but he brought down a company that
205. 7:49was hurting people so where is Tyler
206. 7:51Schultz now well he co-founded this
207. 7:53company flux biosciences tell me more
208. 7:56what do they do they're developing
209. 7:57Healthcare Tech working on a device that
210. 7:59can monitor your health all kinds of
211. 8:01metrics with a simple wearable sensor
212. 8:04wow so even after everything he's still
213. 8:06trying to make Healthcare better that's
214. 8:07impressive it shows how resilient he is
215. 8:09and how dedicated he is to helping
216. 8:11people through Tech he also talks a lot
217. 8:13about ethics and Science and business
218. 8:15now using his experience to warn against
219. 8:18what happened at Theos that's great he
220. 8:21turned a bad experience into something
221. 8:23positive speaking out for transparency
222. 8:26and accountability which is something we
223. 8:27need a lot more of he could have just
224. 8:29you know walked away from it all oh
225. 8:30absolutely focused on his new company
226. 8:32but he's out there talking about what
227. 8:34happened pushing for change yeah he
228. 8:36wants more transparency more
229. 8:38accountability in Science and Tech his
230. 8:40story is so powerful because it shows
231. 8:41that anyone can make a difference
232. 8:43totally even when there's so much
233. 8:45pressure when the stickes are high one
234. 8:48person speaking up matters it wasn't
235. 8:50just about taking down Theos no it goes
236. 8:52way beyond that it made everyone rethink
237. 8:55things Ethics in Silicon Valley that
238. 8:57fake it till you make it attit right and
239. 9:00especially you know all these startups
240. 9:02making big promises about healthare
241. 9:05people are paying more attention now
242. 9:07it's like he started this Chain Reaction
243. 9:09a ripple effect and now we're asking how
244. 9:12do we encourage whistleblowers how do we
245. 9:15balance Innovation with like doing the
246. 9:18right thing it's a tough balance how do
247. 9:20we make sure profits don't come before
248. 9:22people's safety big questions no easy
249. 9:25answers but Tyler's story gives us a
250. 9:28place to start it shows that we all have
251. 9:30a responsibility absolutely we can't
252. 9:32wait for someone else to speak up if we
253. 9:34see something wrong we all have to play
254. 9:36a part we have to hold people
255. 9:37accountable demand transparency and
256. 9:40support those who are brave enough to
257. 9:41say something like that saying the only
258. 9:44thing necessary for the Triumph of evil
259. 9:46is for good men to do nothing if we stay
260. 9:49silent we're part of the problem and
261. 9:52Kyler's Story shows us the we can make a
262. 9:54difference even when it seems impossible
263. 9:56when you're up against powerful people
264. 9:58so as we wrap up our deep dive on Theos
265. 10:01yeah what are the big takeaways you hope
266. 10:03people will remember I hope they
267. 10:05understand how complex whistleblowing is
268. 10:07how much courage it takes and how much
269. 10:09The Whistleblower sacrifice yeah I hope
270. 10:11they see Tyler Schultz as an inspiration
271. 10:13he went through so much but never gave
272. 10:15up on doing good right he wouldn't be
273. 10:17silenced exactly and I hope people will
274. 10:20start thinking more critically question
275. 10:22authority demand transparency from
276. 10:25everyone work Community the whole world
277. 10:28it's not just just about tech getting
278. 10:30better it's about being more ethical and
279. 10:32that needs all of us to be involved to
280. 10:34know what's going on and to speak up
281. 10:36well said so to everyone listening
282. 10:38here's something to think about yes what
283. 10:40are you going to do to make a difference
284. 10:43how will you use your voice to make the
285. 10:45world a place where integrity and
286. 10:47accountability matter it starts now