5 bizarre facts about Elizabeth Holmes ‘The Inventor’ left out

Here at Mashable, the Elizabeth Holmes obsession could not be stronger. 

We’ve read the book, listened to the podcast, watched both of the documentaries — and have been wearing nothing but black turtlenecks for the past six days. (Okay, not really on that last part, but we have been blinking less.) 

While Alex Gibney’s Theranos doc for HBO The Inventor took the internet by storm after its premiere last Monday, us Holmes aficionados know the two-hour film barely scratched the surface on this fascinating ex-CEO.

If you’re new to the Holmes craze, welcome! We’re so happy you’ve joined us. Now that you’re one of the crew, let’s round out your knowledge a bit beyond what the doc covered.

Ranked from least to most bizarre, check out 5 Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos facts not explored in The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley below.

5. Ramesh Balwani and Holmes shared a ludicrously expensive mansion while at Theranos. 

The Inventor touches on the fact that these execs-turned-lovers shared a house when Theranos was thriving, but it doesn’t quite get into why that house was so remarkable. 

According to Vanity Fair, Balwani and Holmes shared a full-blown mansion in Los Altos, California, approximately six miles away from Theranos headquarters. Los Altos has long been considered one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S. and of course, Theranos was ponying up when it came time for the couple to pay monthly rent. 

It’s unclear just how much that cost the company, but economic realities of the area indicate it wasn’t cheap. Between the house, multiple chauffeurs, and security detail, Holmes and Balwani seem to have racked up a ridiculous bill during their brief time as Silicon Valley stars. 

If anyone has copies of those receipts, let us see them. Please.

4. An Academy Award-winner directed those Theranos PR videos — and they may blemish his reputation

The Inventor introduces Errol Morris, the director responsible for most of the footage you see during the film, as the creator behind those Apple commercials. In reality, he’s a much bigger deal than that and his role in propping up Elizabeth Holmes is potentially damaging to his reputation.

Theranos hired Morris, who is an Academy Award-winning documentarian, to capture footage of Holmes for use in promotional materials. Throughout The Inventor, Morris’ off-camera questions for Holmes come across as praise-filled, credibility bolstering inquiries — a fitting tone for a PR job, but a potentially problematic look for Morris as a hard-hitting documentarian close to what would become one of the most highly publicized fraud cases in the history of Silicon Valley. 

“The continued use of the footage slowly dismantles Morris’s — and any other would-be truth-seeking documentarian’s — supposed objectivity,” Emily Yoshida explains for Vulture. 

“Morris’s whole deal is that he gets deep, probing insights out of his subjects; that he can draw stuff out of authority figures that other reporters cannot. But he has also used this reputation for commercial gain.” 

Of course, Morris wasn’t the only one fooled. Holmes was able to convince her board of directors, investors, and the public of her product’s viability for over a decade.

3. Holmes would occasionally fall out of her (allegedly) fake deep voice while drinking. 

The Inventor doesn’t take a deep dive into the origin of Holmes’ mysteriously baritone voice, but The Dropout sure does.

Based off of the successful ABC Radio podcast of the same name, the Nightline documentary interviews a number of people close to Holmes. Former Chief Design Architect at Theranos Ana Arriola revealed how employees learned about Holmes’ true speaking voice.

“We didn’t know that it wasn’t her voice until much later,” Arriola recalls. 

“I think I was at one of the company parties, maybe she had a little bit too much to drink or whatnot. But she fell out of a character and exposed that that wasn’t necessarily her true voice.”

A former professor of Holmes backs up the claim. 

“When she came to me, she didn’t have a low voice,” notes Dr. Phyllis Gardner. “She was just like a typical undergrad.”

2. Holmes had a dog named Balto. He pooped all over Theranos.

Holmes’ Siberian Husky Balto — named after the heroic sled dog who delivered antitoxins to Alaska after a serious diphtheria outbreak in 1925 — would walk the halls of Theranos with Holmes regularly, even entering sanitary labs.

“Holmes brushed it off when the scientists protested that the dog hair could contaminate samples,” Nick Bilton writes for Vanity Fair. 

“While Holmes held board meetings, Balto could be found in the corner of the room relieving himself while a frenzied assistant was left to clean up the mess.”

Multiple sources have also reported that Holmes would insist upon classifying Balto as a wolf, since he shared the breed’s typically small shred of wolf DNA. 

According to Bilton, “In meetings, at cafés, whenever anyone stopped to pet the pup and ask his breed, Holmes soberly replied, ‘He’s a wolf.'” Uh … okay, then.

1. Holmes and Balwani could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

The Inventor serves primarily as an origin story for Holmes, but this sordid tale is still developing. 

As Gibney notes in the doc’s final act, Holmes and Balwani are headed into criminal proceedings sometime later this year, facing two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 9 counts of wire fraud each. 

What The Inventor doesn’t get into is how those proceedings could play out. Each count carries a maximum 20-year sentence and, plea deals notwithstanding, should Holmes and Balwani stand trial and be found guilty they could face up to 220 years in prison a piece.

While these sentences could be served concurrently at the recommendation of a judge — meaning Holmes and Balwani would spend only up to 20 years in prison — they could just as well be required to serve them consecutively. They could also get lighter sentences depending on if they’re found guilty on only some counts and what a jury and the judge decide is an appropriate judgment — there’s a multitude of unknowns here, after all.

Whether their future punishment — if any— fits the crime remains to be seen. We’re just hoping Balto has somewhere to stay.