Christian Rasmus Holmes IV, also known as Chris, was a former vice president at Enron, a notorious energy company that collapsed in 2001 after defrauding investors and the public. He was the father of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of Theranos, a medical device company that also made false claims and deceived investors, customers, and regulators.
The Rise and Fall of Enron
Enron was founded in 1985 by Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who merged two natural gas companies. Enron quickly became one of the largest and most innovative companies in the world, trading in energy, commodities, and derivatives. Enron also created a complex web of off-balance-sheet entities and partnerships to hide its debts and losses, and manipulated accounting rules and financial reports to inflate its revenues and profits. Enron was praised by the media and analysts as a model of success and innovation, and its stock price soared to record highs.
However, in late 2001, Enron’s fraud was exposed by whistleblowers, journalists, and regulators. Enron’s stock price plummeted from $90 to less than $1 in a matter of weeks, and the company filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. The scandal also brought down Arthur Andersen, Enron’s auditor, who was accused of shredding documents and obstructing justice. The FBI launched an investigation into Enron’s crimes, and several executives were indicted and convicted for conspiracy, fraud, and insider trading. Enron’s collapse was one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history, and had widespread economic and social impacts.
Christian Holmes IV’s Role at Enron
According to Forbes, Christian Holmes IV worked as a former vice president at Enron. However, the outlet didn’t clarify the sector that he oversaw. He was born into a wealthy family and grew up in Washington D.C. He attended prestigious schools such as St. Albans School and Princeton University, where he graduated with a degree in international relations.
It is unclear when and how he joined Enron, and what his responsibilities and achievements were at the company. He was one of the many executives who lost their jobs when Enron collapsed in 2001. In the Hulu docuseries “The Dropout”, which depicts the life and downfall of his daughter Elizabeth Holmes, there is a scene where Christian IV is shown watching the news of Enron’s bankruptcy at home, and telling his family that the company was a fraud and that they lied to him about everything.
Christian Holmes IV’s Life After Enron
After leaving Enron, Christian Holmes IV went on to work at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), where he led the company’s global water supply and sanitation programs, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked as a senior advisor at The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, since February 2017.
Christian Holmes IV was supportive of his daughter Elizabeth’s ambitions and dreams, and helped her launch her company Theranos in 2003, when she dropped out of Stanford University. He invested some of his money and retirement savings into Theranos, and also introduced her to some of his influential contacts and friends, such as venture capitalist Timothy Draper and former Secretary of State George Shultz. He was proud of his daughter’s achievements and believed in her vision of revolutionizing the health care industry with her blood-testing technology.
However, Theranos turned out to be another fraudulent company, similar to Enron. Theranos claimed that its device, called the Edison, could perform hundreds of blood tests from a few drops of blood, with faster and cheaper results than conventional methods. However, the device was unreliable, inaccurate, and often malfunctioned, and Theranos used third-party machines and manual methods to run the tests. Theranos also lied to investors, customers, and regulators about its technology, partnerships, and financial performance, and created a culture of secrecy and intimidation to silence any dissent or criticism.
Theranos’s fraud was exposed by investigative journalist John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal in 2015, and the company faced lawsuits, investigations, and sanctions from various authorities. Theranos shut down in 2018, and Elizabeth Holmes was indicted on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy, along with her former boyfriend and COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. Elizabeth Holmes is currently on trial in San Jose, California, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Conclusion
Christian Rasmus Holmes IV Enron is the father of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos. He was a former vice president at Enron, another infamous company that collapsed in 2001 after committing massive fraud. He supported his daughter’s entrepreneurial endeavors and invested in her company, but later learned that she had also deceived him and the world with her false claims and promises. He is one of the many victims of the two biggest corporate scandals in American history, and a tragic example of how wealth and privilege can enable and blind people to fraud and corruption.