Erika Cheung Recounts Being Followed By Private Investigators After Reporting Theranos — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:03so essentially um
3. 0:06as john is doing his investigative
4. 0:08reporting he has to give he had to give
5. 0:10theranos the opportunity to rebut
6. 0:14his investigative
7. 0:15piece
8. 0:16and
9. 0:17at that point
10. 0:19essentially theranos went on this giant
11. 0:21wish witch hunt to sort of figure out
12. 0:23and identify who were the former
13. 0:25employees that were sources for his
14. 0:28reporting so
15. 0:31there was there was one
16. 0:33one night i was working late at my new
17. 0:35employer's office and my colleagues come
18. 0:38up to me and they said erica you need to
19. 0:40pack up your stuff because i usually
20. 0:41work late and you need to leave with us
21. 0:44because there's been a man in the
22. 0:45parking lot all day
23. 0:47and we don't want you to leave the
24. 0:49building alone
25. 0:51so i pack up my stuff and i walk out the
26. 0:53door and immediately this guy in this
27. 0:55like tinted suv jumps out and he hands
28. 0:58me this letter
29. 1:00and i look at it
30. 1:02and it's a letter
31. 1:03from david boyes who at the time is one
32. 1:06of the top corporate lawyers in the u.s
33. 1:09and it's addressed to me
34. 1:11but it has an address on there that is
35. 1:14essentially my colleague's address
36. 1:15because i just moved out of my apartment
37. 1:18and was sleeping on her couch
38. 1:20so at this point i was really freaked
39. 1:22out because what it had suggested to me
40. 1:24that
41. 1:25they were following me they were
42. 1:27following me it wasn't the case that i
43. 1:29was now under
44. 1:30the
45. 1:32prospect of
46. 1:33being sued but also that they had
47. 1:36private investigators likely following
48. 1:38me
49. 1:39before we talk about how you respond to
50. 1:41the content in the letter i i just need
51. 1:43to know
52. 1:45i want to know what kind of
53. 1:46psychological toll this takes on you i
54. 1:49mean to know that you're being followed
55. 1:51it's it's an
56. 1:52it's an unbelievable invasion of privacy
57. 1:54and it's very very scary
58. 1:56yeah it's it's terrifying right i'm 23
59. 1:59years old at this point and i'm
60. 2:00wondering like
61. 2:01i you just feel so powerless you're like
62. 2:04okay what's
63. 2:05what's gonna happen to me how do i
64. 2:08even
65. 2:09not only is there the fear that i'm
66. 2:11gonna
67. 2:12be embroiled in debt because of all the
68. 2:14litigation or potentially there might be
69. 2:17some sort of criminal charges that are
70. 2:19placed upon me but even my personal
71. 2:21safety you're talking about a company
72. 2:24who has people backing
73. 2:26them that
74. 2:27could
75. 2:28who are ex-secretary of states
76. 2:30yeah
77. 2:31you know what am i gonna do if people
78. 2:34are following me and
79. 2:36what's going to happen to me they have
80. 2:37way more money they have way more
81. 2:39resources they may have way more
82. 2:41political clout they have way more power
83. 2:43than i do
84. 2:44and what's going to happen you know
85. 2:46what's going to happen because of all of
86. 2:49this and it was very
87. 2:52very terrifying
88. 2:55[Music]