(NEW YORK) — It’s a dramatic tale of money, power, tragedy and deceit.
Elizabeth Holmes, once the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire and lauded by some as the next Steve Jobs for her supposedly “revolutionary” blood testing company, Theranos, fell from grace after being convicted of defrauding investors.
Holmes awaits sentencing this September, facing up to twenty years in prison for four counts of fraud for which she was found guilty in January. Her former boyfriend and ex-COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani claims he is innocent and is set to go on trial later this month.
The gripping story is recapped in a new 20/20 special, “The Dropout: The Rise and Con of Elizabeth Holmes,” airing March 4.
The television event features behind-the-scenes access to the new Hulu original limited series “The Dropout”, starring Oscar-nominee Amanda Seyfried. The limited series is based on the top ranked ABC News podcast hosted by ABC News Chief Business Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis. It premieres on Hulu on March 3.
The podcast, which first aired in 2019, chronicles the rise and fall of Holmes and Theranos through first-hand accounts and deposition tapes of Holmes, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, and other employees.
Listeners hear from the whistleblowers who say they tried to speak out about what was happening inside Theranos while being stalked and legally threatened. From broken machines to faulty test results, the company starts to go downhill as Holmes attempts to mitigate the damage to her reputation by traversing down a path of lies.
Season two of the podcast picks up in the middle of a worldwide pandemic three years after Holmes settled with the SEC with no admission of wrongdoing, at the beginning of her criminal trial. Holmes, now a mother, charged with 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 9 counts of wire fraud, faces the toughest and most important challenge of her life: convincing 12 jurors that she’s innocent of the charges at hand.
Each week, “The Dropout” team takes you behind the scenes and inside the courtroom to provide a detailed description of what is happening. In addition to courtroom coverage, the podcast also interviews legal experts, witnesses, and investors to help understand where Theranos went wrong.
Tune in to the limited series “The Dropout” exclusively on Hulu on Thursday, March 3, and “The Dropout: The Rise and Con of Elizabeth Holmes” on Friday, March 4. Hulu is a division of Disney, ABC’s parent company.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.