In a special encore airing tonight, April 10, “20/20” presents “The Dropout” (9 p.m., ABC), the result of a three-year investigation into the endlessly intriguing story of Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes and her Palo Alto blood-testing startup, Theranos.
Reported by ABC News chief business, technology and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis, “The Dropout” delves into the rise and fall of Holmes, a Stanford dropout who once was America’s youngest self-made female billionaire. But not long after Theranos garnered a nearly $10 billion valuation, it came crashing down amid accusations of massive fraud.
Jarvis chronicles the twists and turns of Holmes’ story, featuring interviews with and deposition tapes from central figures of the story.
Holmes was indicted in June 2018 on 11 felony fraud counts, with federal prosecutors accusing her of misleading doctors, patients, government agencies, business partners and the company’s own board with claims that Theranos’ purportedly revolutionary blood-testing systems could conduct a full range of tests using just a few drops of blood.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila last month ordered the fraud cases of Holmes and former Theranos president Sunny Balwani to be separated, with Holmes’ trial to start as scheduled Aug. 4.
The “20/20” version of “The Dropout” first aired in March 2019, after a special preview on “Nightline” and the debut of a highly popular podcast of the same name.
“The Dropout” podcast remains available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher and the ABC News app.
