Rochelle had feared that Holmes would not be convicted at all but believes the jury made the correct decision to convict her on four counts, each with a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. The lawyer advised him to claim health issues and use a doctors note to get out of the deposition.
At Theranos, Ian was frustrated by the development of Theranos miniLab. Rochelle said instead, an office manager contacted her to ask her to return Theranos company property. But Rochelle says early on, her husband indicated there were problems. Theranos's devices often became a source of frustration for Gibbons, as they differed, sometimes significantly, from the benchmarks. However, her story becomes a cautionary tale for anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
However, without owning this patent, Theranos would have needed a license from Fuisz's patent to cover physician/patient alerts; a highly desirable feature in a medical analyzer. Ian had taken a lethal dose of acetaminophen, which can cause an extremely painful death. Gibbons was the first experienced scientist hired by Theranos and an expert in the field of blood testing, having patented a mechanism for mixing and diluting blood that was a crucial part of the company's technology. She never got any condolences from Elizabeth Holmes.
Gibbons came under distress and attempted suicide on May 16, 2013. Elizabeth would tell him that they were working on better technology that could do what they wanted it to do, but Ian couldnt figure out how that could be.
2022 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. He also noted there were similarities between Gibbons' Theranos patents and those he had filed while working for a previous employer, Biotrack.
Rochelle Gibbons told CBS News that she mourns the loss of her husband, Ian Gibbons, every day. He was extremely intelligent.".
He spent eight days in the hospital before passing away. [5], In 2011, Gibbons became involved in a patent theft case involving Theranos and Richard Fuisz. I said, How do you feel about Elizabeth? Dr Ian Gibbons, a Cambridge-educated British biochemist who became Theranos chief scientist in 2005, took a fatal overdose in 2013 after becoming convinced that Holmes would sack him because he challenged her grandiose claims about her blood-testing machine. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
She has shown no remorse for any of the things shes done to anyone, nothing.. Rochelle reported that instead of sending her condolences, Theranos promptly asked for Gibbons work laptop and documents he possessed. As chief scientist, Gibbons knew the technology was failing and that Holmes was lying. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Supreme Court signals it could BLOCK Biden's vaccine Queen will be protected by a 2,500ft 'no-fly zone' over Citigroup tells 3,250 workers who are still unvaccinated out Elizabeth Holmes is guilty of fraud, but Im still a widow | News | The Times. However, Gibbons non-disclosure agreement with Theranos prevents him from revealing the truth. He also received a call that day from a Theranos lawyer telling him that he would have to appear at the competing law firms offices on May 17 for a deposition, just two days away. His wife, Rochelle Gibbons, told Vanity Fair that after the call, Gibbons asked "Elizabeth wants to meet with me tomorrow in her office. Yes, Stephen Fry's character Ian Gibbons is based on a real person and sadly, the real Gibbons did die from liver failure after a suicide attempt in May 2013. 'Ian got into really bad shape with Sonny and Elizabeth, because there are so many things wrong with that technology,' his wife Rochelle explained in an HBO documentary aired in 2019. Ian Gibbons killed himself on May 16, 2013, after a series of disastrous experiences at the fallen sci-tech company that was actually more sci-fi. While researching his defense to the Theranos lawsuit, Fuisz noted that Gibbons was often named as co-inventor with Holmes on many of Theranos' patents. Gibbons is grieved by his wife, Rochelle.
The Dropout follows the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and her company Theranos. Ian eventually confided with his wife Rochelle that Theranos was failing at everything, but did not elaborate further because he didnt want to violate his NDAs (non-disclosure agreements.) He emailed Ian a form doctors note for his own physician to sign. That situation was further complicated by Holmes' business model, which forced each department in her company to operate independently and not share any information. His high standards became a source of friction with Theranos engineers and senior management. / CBS News.
The evening before his deposition, on May 16, 2013, Gibbons received a phone call from one of Holmes' assistants. "And I think of it every day, I mean, I think of it all the time," Rochelle said.
He was honest.
Ian even questioned if Elizabeth had any basis to allege that Richard Fuisz was stealing her patent.
Joining Seyfried to tell the story of the rise and fall of Holmes and her health technology company Theranos is The Hobbit's Stephen Fry, who takes on the role of biochemist Ian Gibbons. However, he continued to struggle to make the flawed Theranos technology catch up to the hype. [3], Gibbons was born and raised in England.
But the two families had fallen out and Fuisz's offer to help Holmes with her invention had been declined.
On The Dropout podcast, Rochelle said Theranos was isolating Ian.
Speaking on the podcast, The Dropout, which the Hulu series is based on, Rochelle Gibbons revealed Holmes never offered any condolences in response to her husband's death. Do you think shes telling the truth? And he told me, Well, Elizabeth lies about everything. Thats exactly what he said, Rochelle told CBS News. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. He passed away a few days later on May 23, 2013, in the hospital at the age of 67. CEO Holmes and Chief Operating Officer Sunny Balwani were charged with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He also still thought he could help Theranos get through their growing mass of problems. Holmes' childhood neighbor Richard Fuisz had filed a patent for a physician-alert mechanism that was embedded in Theranos' testing device, meaning Theranos would have to get a license from Fuisz to use the physician-alert. In response, Fuisz added Gibbons's name to his list of witnesses to be deposed to answer questions about improper reuse of past work and the identification of Holmes as a co-inventor.
And he told me that he couldn't imagine why people were giving the company any money because there was no invention, there was nothing there," Rochelle recalled.
Satisfaction in knowing shes going to suffer because, believe me, Ive suffered and Ian suffered, Rochelle clarified to CBS News. And I told him yes, unfortunately,' said Rochelle.
'When he realised she was pushing things on patients that were fraudulent, it destroyed him.'. He was kind. Ian wanted to develop a product that actually worked, but the motivation of Elizabeth Holmes seemed to be about marketing their product as if it worked, whether it did or not.
Inside Apple iPhone designer Ana Arriolas short stint at Theranos.
We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. After Gibbons died, she said she notified Holmes, but she never heard back from her.
Actress Kate Burton essays the role of Rochelle Gibbons in The Dropout. Burton is arguably best-known for her performance as Dr. Ellis Grey from the hit medical drama series Greys Anatomy. Burtons character in The Dropout is based on the real Ian Gibbons wife, Rochelle Gibbons. var sc_project=8656821;
The two had met while studying at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973 and married two years later. Gibbons came under distress and attempted suicide on May 16, 2013.
', When asked if she has ever once heard from Holmes in the years since her husband took his life, Rochelle said: 'No.'. The couple met while studying at the University of California, Berkley, in 1973 and tied the knot in 1975. When they did find out Ian had died, they assumed he had died from cancer.
On May 15, Ian scheduled a meeting with Elizabeth but then worried that Elizabeth would fire him. Gibbons was brought in by CEO Elizabeth Holmes in 2005 as the company's chief scientist. Please enter valid email address to continue. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Gibbons was brought on board by Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford and Theranos board member Channing Robertson (played by Bill Irwin), who remained on the board of Theranos until 2017. Several of his colleagues lobbied on his behalf, and he was quickly rehired, with reduced responsibilities: as a technical consultant to the chemistry group he had formerly headed. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. [2], In the television miniseries The Dropout, Gibbons was portrayed by Stephen Fry. Sunny Balwani called him back and offered him a job, but with much less responsibilities.
[5] Gibbons was the first experienced scientist hired,[2] with the title of senior director of assay development. Knowing the technology did not work, Gibbons would be lying under oath if he did not tell the truth about Theranos failing technology but on the other hand, he most definitely risked losing his job as speaking about the company would be breaking his non-disclosure agreement.
Gibbons became very nervous and depressed when he learned that he would be subpoenaed to testify. 'She couldn't escape her persona as a wunderkind and got sucked into it,' she said.
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Rochelle asked Ian to see a doctor to help with his mental state as well, and he agreed. Gibbons was subsequently fired.
"She has shown no remorse for any of the things she's done to anyone, nothing.". Copyright 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.
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Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Amanda Seyfried Transforms Into Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's 'The Dropout'.
He was a biochemist with degrees from Cambridge University.
'She lives in a 100million estate.
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His specialty was immunoassays, which are tests that look for molecules in a substance like blood or other body fluids. He was rehired a few hours laterbut he was demoted. After Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on four counts of fraud in January 2022, Rochelle Gibbons says she gets a little satisfaction from that because she didnt expect Elizabeth to be convicted at all. Rochelle was then asked how the company responded to her husband's suicide. January 12, 2022 / 9:53 AM
These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Holmes was acquitted on four other counts.
The accuracy of these tests should be everything to the company, so the fact that the tests didnt work meant that the whole purpose of the company was failing, and the consequences were dire.
With more than 60 U.S. patents to his credit, she said, Gibbons was hired in 2005 to be the chief scientist at Theranos to work on what the company and founder Elizabeth Holmes promised was revolutionary new blood-testing technology. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. According to a court filing, Holmes and Sunny Balwani would lead profane chants in company meetings against rival companies and detractors, Holmes is seen in the lab in a grab from the HBO documentary The inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.