Reported by The Guardian
Susan Lawrence, elected to Wolverhampton city council, sits on committee overseeing financial reporting of multimillion-pound budget
A woman who promoted a notorious cryptocurrency scam has been elected as a Reform UK councillor and now sits on the audit and risk committee of a major city council.
Susan Lawrence was one of the main UK promoters of the HyperVerse cryptocurrency scheme, which was named in US court documents as an alleged “pyramid and Ponzi scheme” that cheated investors worldwide out of a “staggering” $1.89bn (£1.41bn).
More from the original report
The HyperVerse scheme spread through the US and the UK from 2020 to 2022, and also targeted investors in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific before its eventual collapse left many people unable to access funds.
In some cases, people who took out bank loans to buy packages in the scheme said they felt suicidal when they were unable to withdraw their money, with some cases of self-harm.
Lawrence is now a Reform councillor on Wolverhampton city council and sits on the authority’s audit and risk committee, which independently reviews governance and risk management and oversees the financial reporting relating to a multimillion-pound budget.
Lawrence, who has not personally been accused of wrongdoing by authorities, promoted the HyperVerse scheme, or later variations of it, even after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consumer warning that the firm may have been promoting financial services or products without the regulator’s permission.
“You should avoid dealing with this firm and beware of scams,” the FCA said in a 2021 warning.
In a 2022 presentation, Lawrence addressed members of the HyperVerse community who were concerned they could no longer access their invested funds.
Lawrence, who worked with a fraudster whose company was later forcibly shut down by the UK high court, participated in lengthy promotional videos and webinars to market the project to the public and recruit new participants.
She is also linked to various other cryptocurrency schemes that were promoted by HyperVerse’s alleged co-founder Sam Lee, an Australian bitcoin entrepreneur who moved to Dubai in 2021.
Lee was charged in the US in 2024 with…