[cmadan]

When I walk into the casinos, I know the odds of each game and know there is a possibility of losing my money. However if the casino rigs the machines to reduce my odds, then it isn't a fair game anymore and now goes into the realm of cheating.

[jacquesm]

When you're about to wire cash at this level to a company you have a real responsibility to make sure that the technology is real and you shouldn't by default believe everything they tell you. Independent verification is something no reputable/honest company would have a problem with, at least, I've never encountered it and if a company did have a problem with it then I'd see that as a huge red flag.

The whole Theranos affair interests me very much from a professional point of view, I could not imagine that none of those high flying investors and funds had not done actual due diligence, it is the biggest example of the herd mentality at work that I'm aware of involving only one company.

The really big question - and it is one that will inevitably be asked - is at what point in time did Theranos/Holmes realize that their tech wasn't going to work? If that is hard to establish (and they're probably trying very hard to make that even harder) then she may get away with the whole thing. If it can be established beyond doubt that they knew prior to accepting investment then it definitely is a case of fraud and the investors may be able to recoup some of their investment but it still isn't enough to get them off the hook completely for their own role in this.