Reform UK councillor promoted collapsed $1.9bn ‘Ponzi scheme’ HyperVerse that left victims suicidal

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).

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.