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A fake empire
How to fake it until you’re found out to be a complete fraud
One of the biggest podcast hits of the year is The Dropout, a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes’ sham billion-dollar company Theranos, which falsely promised to revolutionize health care.
The reporting talks about how Holmes — a college drop-out like her idol Steve Jobs — affected a fake low-pitched voice to sound authoritative. She also fabricated major components of their business including a partnership with the military to use their product in war zones.
Two of the most popular documentaries of the year — carried separately by both Netflix and Hulu — are about how the organizers of the Fyre Festival duped people into buying tickets to a remote island. They created a fake fantasy on “the boundaries of the impossible” with images of glamorous models and Instagram stars.
And now, the №1 story of the day by far is the “largest college admission scam ever,” which involves scheming celebrities, business leaders and wealthy parents to cheat their kids’ way into elite universities. It…
