Originally published at: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes had a baby, raising questions about her fraud trial beginning this month | Boing Boing
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but others see it as a smart move to avoid imprisonment.
Count me in that group. I’ve seen more than a few psychopaths who used medical conditions (real or feigned) and vulnerable human props to escape the consequences of their actions.
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Having a baby as a tactic to avoid punishment? I wouldn’t put anything past this woman, frankly. The whole Theranos/Holmes saga is big-time cuckoo nutso scammery. I’m sorry for the baby but it is my wholehearted opinion that this woman needs to serve some serious prison time.
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Is there such a thing as a life sentence of community service? Perhaps, community service applied at the minimum wage until the sum repays even a fraction of Theranos’s ill-gotten profits?
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I can’t see a good way out of this.
Judge sends her to prison anyway?
Kid ends up in the care system.
Judge lets her off lightly because of the pregnancy?
Kid grows up hearing “Mommy had you as a means to stay out of jail”.
What a hideous situation, purely conceived for selfish reasons.
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Accusing a woman of having a child for purely selfish reasons is BS misogyny. Nobody should presume to understand what woman’s internal thoughts are with regard to their reproductive rights, no matter the circumstances.
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" Melania, I want to have a baby."
“No way, my figure is perfect, I would need all new dresses”
"No, I mean I want to have the baby - I’m facing more charges than anyone thought possible and for sure one or two of them is going to stick. But I show up with a kid in court… breastfeeding… is that something that can work? You hold the baby up and … people say it’s possible … it gets the diet coke inside… "
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She committed a crime. She hurt people. She scammed them. It’s truly sad that a baby has been put in the midst of all this. He didn’t do anything except have a crook for a mother.
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Poor mothers, especially poor black mothers, are denied their children all the time and given long sentences for crimes involving a fraction of the monetary value. Fuck the white collar crime committing rich ladies who think it makes THEM somehow more sympathetic so they can stay out of jail.
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Came here to register this exact sentiment. Though I didn’t check, I’m sure Holmes has family that could care for her child and provide all the requisite comforts for the 40 years its mother should be imprisoned.
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Adelina was a fictional character brotayed by Sophia Loren, and was only selling smuggled cigarettes anyway. Don’t copy it in real life.
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Timing a pregnancy as a legal risk management strategy? Only a total sociopath would be capable of such a thing! So… yup, probably part of it. Poor kid.
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Somebody is the father. And there is always the grandparents which can raise the kid. People turn out OK with either option.
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Man, I feel sorry for that child; the woman strikes me as a narcissistic sociopath.
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Right - why all of the concern about the baby being parentless? There’s a father involved somewhere AND honestly, they’d have to be a pretty crummy person to be a worse parent than she’d likely be. I’d be more afraid for that kid’s welfare being raised by Ms. Holmes herself.
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Plenty of poor women in prison on minor victimless drug charges have their babies in prison. If they can do it, super-rich con-artist woman can do it too.
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More than 60% of incarcerated women have children. I don’t see how this is an exceptional case for the justice system.
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I can’t see a good way out of this. Judge sends her to prison anyway? Kid ends up in the care system.
Huh?? You think the person she selected to be the father is without means? The kid won’t be homeless, just Holmes-less.
[pause for applause] I’ll be here all week!
Or, did she work this up via artificial insemination? That would be a stone-cold artefact that she was doing it for sympathy.
“If Elizabeth is convicted and the case goes to the judge for sentencing, if he sends her to prison for a long time he’d be depriving the child of his or her mother for many years,” Carreyrou said. “And that’s a heavy decision to make.”
Frankly, that’s a classist/racist thing to say. Pregnant poor/PoC are sent away routinely without so much as a second thought. (Or, rather, the thought is something along the lines of: “Well, you really oughta thought of that ahead of time, missy.”)
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Not every baby emerges on a palm leaf in a misty beautiful woods to float gently into the arms of an angelic deserving mother.
Considering her history and the trouble she’s facing, I don’t think it is unreasonable to suspect her motives. Cosby and Weinstein pushed walkers into court, she’ll be pushing a pram.
Isn’t her partner up on charges too? Intentional or not, it would be a bloody sham of justice to cut HER a break just because SHE gave birth.
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Not just a narcissistic sociopath, but by all accounts a rather brilliant one (unlike a certain former President with similar tendencies). That’s a dangerous combination.
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