Bonum Certa Men Certa

Elizabeth Holmes Charged With “Massive Fraud” and Team Battistelli Rushes to Distance Itself From Her

Elizabeth Holmes might be the only person who stains the European Inventor Award more than Battistelli does

Theranos and EPO
EPO was so proud of Theranos...



Summary: Theranos in the headlines again... as the EPO tries to distance itself from its previous association with Elizabeth Holmes

Theranos and the EPO's top-level management are a good pair; corruption and fraud are becoming such a banal thing to be merely covered up, not tackled. Those who blow the whistle or complain politely are being punished and information about scandals is not being published. Media plays a role in the so-called 'conspiracy' (of silence or of PR). In the case of the EPO, it actively served to legitimise this scam. Battistelli is in some ways like Elizabeth Holmes, only a lot older.



Below are some thoughts and links sent to us by a reader earlier today (days after this scandal had been recalled again, even in relation to the EPO):




Theranos in the headlines again ... as the EPO tries to distance itself from its previous association with Elizabeth Holmes

Theranos has been hitting the headlines again recently.

In March there was this: Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Charged With 'Massive Fraud' — Here Are The Highlights http://digg.com/2018/theranos-lawsuit-elizabeth-holmes-highlights

And more recently: Theranos Losses A Drop In The Bucket For DeVos, Murdoch, Waltons And Kraft https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2018/05/04/theranos-losses-a-drop-in-the-bucket-for-devos-murdoch-waltons-and-kraft/#242b45d627b2

The original Wall Street Journal article is behind a paywall: Theranos Cost Business and Government Leaders More Than $600 Million https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-cost-business-and-government-leaders-more-than-600-million-1525392082

In the meantime it seems that the EPO has been busy trying to distance itself from its previous association with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes who was a finalist in the European Inventor Award in 2015.

Back in April 2015 the EPO website contained this entry for Holmes (original webpage retrieved courtesy of the WayBack Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/20150428054613/http://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/finalists/2015/holmes.html

The original webpage contained a reference to three European patents granted to Theranos which list Holmes as co-inventor:

EP2205968 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20100714&CC=EP&NR=2205968A1 EP2018188 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20090128&CC=EP&NR=2018188A2

EP1662987 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20060607&CC=EP&NR=1662987A2

There was also a link to a "puff piece" in one of the EPO' leading German "media partners" the Hamburg-based Handelsblatt:

EUROPÄISCHER ERFINDERPREIS: Revolution mit einem Tropfen Blut http://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/forschung-innovation/europaeischer-erfinderpreis-revolution-mit-einem-tropfen-blut/11768208.html
According to the archives of the WayBack Machine the webpage still appeared with its original content as recently as 14 March 2018: https://web.archive.org/web/20180314210306/http://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/finalists/2015/holmes.html
In the meantime the entry for Holmes appears to have been "sanitized" by deleting the previous content including references to the granted European patents and the link to the Handlesblatt article and replacing it with the following "disclaimer":

Important note: The nomination of Elizabeth Holmes for the European Inventor Award was put forward in 2014, and her selection as a finalist announced in April 2015. The nomination itself and material produced about Ms Holmes were based on the information available at that time. Serious concerns about the technology and its purported benefits have surfaced since then. https://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/finalists/2015/holmes.html

The EPO's original press release from 2015 mentioning Elizabeth Holmes can still be found online here:
The document is downloadable in Word format and in the file metadata the author is named as "Philipp Nisster".

According to LinkedIn, Philipp Nister is the Head of Public Relations of the Echolot Group, a PR outfit based in Stuttgart: https://de.linkedin.com/in/philipp-nisster-8b159693

https://echolot.de/







Echolot works for the EPO this year [1, 2] and we can recall it working for the EPO in the past, albeit more covertly. We wonder how big their contract is compared to FTI Consulting's. If someone out there has access to the related document/s (contract etc.), please consider leaking these to us.

Recent Techrights' Posts

When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
 
Links 16/06/2025: Climate, Wildfires, Breaches, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2025: Summer in Finland and Misunderstandings
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025