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Elizabeth Holmes' black turtleneck has become a symbol of her alleged 'massive fraud'

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and the company's former president, Sunny Balwani, were charged with fraud by the SEC this month.

  • The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the blood-testing company
  • Holmes is known for always dressing in a black turtleneck, which has led to comparisons between her and the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs.
  • Many, including the

Steve Jobs turned the black turtleneck into a symbol of creativity and success. Now, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is threatening to destroy everything it stood for.

Holmes and Theranos' former president,

The former darling of Silicon Valley founded Theranos in 2003, when she was just 19 years old, and dropped out of Stanford University to develop a technology that was said to be able to perform a range of blood tests from just a few drops.

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But, when the technology's shortcomings were revealed by reporting in Business Insider and the Wall Street Journal, Holmes become a villain overnight, and her iconic black turtleneck a symbol of mistrust.

In an interview with Glamour in 2015, Holmes said her mother had put her in black turtlenecks since she was eight years old. Later in life, this became a uniform — something she could wear every day without having to think about it.

"All my focus is on the work. I take it so seriously; I'm sure that translates into how I dress," she told Glamour.

Comparisons were instantly drawn between Holmes and Jobs, for whom the black turtleneck became a personal trademark.

When Theranos first came under scrutiny in 2015

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against the turtleneck has erupted on social media. Commenters are claiming that Holmes used the fashion piece as a way to tap into the positive perceptions of Jobs and his career.

The resolution also states that Holmes cannot be a director or officer of a publicly traded company for 10 years. She can continue to be CEO of Theranos because it is a privately held company.

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