The criminal consequences of Silicon Valley’s “fake it till you make it” culture

“Fake it till you make it” has long been a mantra in Silicon Valley. It’s a culture that often brings financial consequences but very rarely criminal ones. We’ll talk about the significance of the criminal case against the former chief operating officer of the Theranos medical tech company, Sunny Balwani. He and his former romantic partner, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, faced charges of defrauding investors and patients. Speaking of consequences, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin gets sentenced again, this time for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces his intention to resign. We have the “purr-fect” tweet on the BoJo saga. Here’s everything we talked about on the show today: “Chauvin gets 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights” from The Los Angeles Times Comey and McCabe Audits: How Likely That They Were a Coincidence? from The New York Times “No. 2 Theranos Executive Found Guilty of 12 Counts of Fraud” from The New York Times “Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani found guilty of all charges” from Engadget “We’ve Never Seen Mars Quite Like This” from the Atlantic “Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor Provides a Preview” from NASA This purr-fect tweet about the Boris Johnson situation Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. We’ll be on the YouTube livestream starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. We’ll have more news, drinks and a game!