The Recent York Times was pilloried online over the weekend in response to its profile of convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is about to start serving an 11-year prison sentence for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded investors out of a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Times journalist and author Amy Chozick is the writer of a 5,200 word article on Holmeswho now reportedly prefers to be called “Liz”, enjoys antioxidant smoothies, is a loving mother of two young children, enjoys ordering Mexican food, avoids R-rated movies and has volunteered on a rape crisis hotline up to now 12 months.
“I used to be smitten with Liz as a real and likeable person,” Chozick wrote within the article. “She’s gentle and charismatic, in a quiet way.”
Chozick added, “For those who’re in her presence, it’s inconceivable to not imagine her, to not be taken along with her and be deceived by her.”
The story also featured choreographed photos of Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, posing with their two young children against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
The response online was fierce.
“Perhaps this text could use more of a sociopath discussion,” tweeted political commentator Matthew Dowd.
“Fun to be a fairly white lady working on an NYT reporter,” tweeted former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, who criticized Chozick as “consistently lame.”
Scott Budman, a journalist who covered the Theranos trial, tweeted: “The last line of the Recent York Times story is unsuitable.”
“You’ll be able to be in her presence and never fully imagine her. Asking questions is a lifestyle,” he wrote.
One other Twitter user wrote: “For each glowing are you able to see attempting to rehabilitate the image of Elizabeth Holmes, I would like you to recollect something… she personally approved a 15 month clinical trial using a tool she knew was useless to measure levels anticancer drugs within the blood of terminally unwell cancer patients.
Twitter user Sean Tuffy tweeted: “Lord, end up a person who loves you as much because the NYT likes to rehabilitate the repute of white-collar criminals.”
The Post asked for a comment from the Times.
Holmes, who has been out on bail since a jury convicted her on 4 counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022, was as a result of start her prison sentence on April 27.
She managed to avoid starting her sentence late last month when her lawyers appealed the federal court order ordering her arrest.
Lawyers for Holmes – who was convicted of fraud related to her company’s blood-testing technology – claimed they were prevented from providing exculpatory statements against one other convicted fraudster, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her ex-boyfriend who was also the president of Theranos.
Balwani, who has been convicted of several bank fraud charges in addition to defrauding investors, was sentenced last December to 13 years in prison.
Theranos was a highly touted Silicon Valley tech startup that raised around $1.3 billion from several investors who were tricked into believing its blood test technology, which might diagnose disease with a finger prick, was effective.
The publicity surrounding claims of groundbreaking technology earned Holmes a star status that included favorable comparisons with tech pioneers akin to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.