A few weeks after the voice incident, Greg picked up another clue
that Theranos wasn’t your usual workplace. He had become friendly
with Gary Frenzel. Although Gary looked like a slob—he weighed three
hundred pounds and walked around the office in baggy jeans, an
oversized T-shirt, and Crocs—Greg found him to be one of the
smartest people at the company. Gary had a bad case of sleep apnea
and, more than once during meetings, Greg had watched him doze off
only to suddenly snap awake to refute a dumb idea someone had put
forward and suggest a brilliant alternative.
As they walked out of the office together one day, Gary lowered his
voice and in a conspiratorial tone told Greg something that startled the
younger man: Elizabeth and Sunny were in a romantic relationship.
Greg felt blindsided. He thought it was inappropriate for the CEO of a
company and its number-two executive to be sleeping together, but
what bothered him more was the fact they were hiding it. This was a
crucial piece of information that he felt should have been disclosed to
new recruits. For Greg, the revelation cast everything about Theranos
in a new light: If Elizabeth wasn’t being forthright about that, what
else might she be lying about?
—
NEPOTISM AT THERANOS took on a new dimension in the spring of 2011
when Elizabeth hired her younger brother, Christian, as associate
director of product management. Christian Holmes was two years out
of college and had no clear qualifications to work at a blood
diagnostics company, but that mattered little to Elizabeth. What
mattered far more was that her brother was someone she could trust.
Christian was a handsome young man with eyes the same deep
shade of blue as his sister’s, but that was where the similarities
between them began and ended. Christian had none of his sister’s
ambition and drive; he was a regular guy who liked to watch sports,
chase girls, and party with friends. After graduating from Duke
University in 2009, he’d worked as an analyst at a Washington, D.C.,
firm that advised corporations about best practices.