‘The Dropout’: The Real Journalist, John Carreyrou, Described the 5-Hour Meeting With Theranos and the Threatening Letters That Came Next
While watching The Dropout on Hulu, many viewers want to know more about the real Wall Street Journal reporter, John Carreyrou (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who exposed Elizabeth Holmes (portrayed by Amanda Seyfried) and Theranos. In The Dropout Episode 7 of the true crime drama, the journalist meets with Holmes’ legal team, including David Boies (Kurtwood Smith), for four hours. However, in real-life, the meeting lasted five excruciating hours, and two threatening letters followed.
‘The Dropout’: John Carreyrou details the Theranos meeting
Although The Dropout cast portrays the Theranos legal team meeting with John Carreyrou at the Wall Street Journal for four hours, the meeting was five hours long. The journalist spoke with Rebecca Jarvis in the ABC News podcast, The Dropout.
“Their demeanor was very aggressive,” Carreyrou began. “They proceeded to tell us that I had misappropriated Theranos trade secrets and that I needed to destroy them or return them immediately.”
Carreyrou informed the Theranos legal team that the Journal would not destroy the information, so the lawyers continued their aggressive attack. In 2015, Theranos Wellness centers were in 41 Walgreens stores testing actual patients’ blood.
“We went around in circles for five hours,” the journalist explained. “All that they would concede to is that they did own some commercial machines, and they claimed to use them only for comparison purposes internally, essentially for research. They wouldn’t comment on whether they used them to test patient samples. It was frustrating, but the stonewalling was also a sign that I was on the right track.”
Like it’s portrayed in The Dropout, John Carreyrou was pleased after the meeting.
“I came out of that 5-hour meeting feeling like we were onto something big, and I was just going to redouble my efforts.”
‘The Dropout’ didn’t include details about the 23-page threatening letter from Theranos
What’s not shown in The Dropout Episode 7 on Hulu is that after the John Carreyrou meeting, the Theranos legal team sent two letters to the Wall Street Journal. The first letter reiterated that Carreyrou stole trade secrets. The second letter attacked the journalist’s career.
“That letter is essentially a searing indictment of me as a journalist and my methods,” Carreyrou explains. “It’s an attempt to really get the Journal to disavow me. At the end of that letter, the threat is very explicit — that Theranos is going to sue if we proceed with the story.”
In addition to the threatening letters, Elizabeth Holmes published an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal before Carreyrou could run with his story. She wrote in the report that “all lab tests should undergo review by the food and drug administration.”
However, at that point, Theranos only had one approved drug test for Herpes.
Where is John Carreyrou now?
John Carreyrou is no longer working at the Wall Street Journal, after the events that happened in The Dropout. He left the outlet in 2019, after 20 years at the publication, because of their policy against paid speaking engagements. After the release of his book, the author had many requests to speak at different companies and organizations. So, he made the hard decision to leave the Journal.
“‘The Journal has a pretty blanket ban on its reporters taking money to speak publicly,” Carreyrou told the Daily Beast. “If I were to do that or my colleagues do that, it compromises the Journal. I respect the reasons for their policy, but for me, it meant leaving quite a bit of money on the table. I’m in pretty high demand due to the success of the book. I’m grateful for everything they’ve done for me.”
However, Carreyrou pointed out that his career is far from over. He plans to continue writing non-fiction books and possibly work for a different publication. In 2021, he released a podcast — Bad Blood: The Final Chapter, which chronicled the Holmes trial.
“I’m not retiring,” he added. “I’d been there almost 20 years. It felt fitting to me. It has been a great place to me. I owe this recent string of success to the Journal, but I needed a change. I want to keep writing non-fiction books for the second part of my career. That’s more my priority. I may find a home for my reporting in between books.”
The Dropout episodes are currently streaming on Hulu. The last and final episode of the series airs on April 7, 2022.
