CEO of Collapsed Crypto Fund HyperVerse Does Not Appear To Exist (theguardian.com) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A chief executive officer whose claimed qualifications appear to have no basis in fact was used to promote the HyperVerse crypto fund, alongside celebrity messages of support, as part of a push to recruit new investors into the scheme. A Guardian Australia investigation last month revealed thousands of people have lost millions of dollars to the HyperVerse crypto scheme, which was promoted by the Australian entrepreneur Sam Lee and his business partner, Ryan Xu, two of the founders of the collapsed Australian bitcoin company Blockchain Global. Blockchain Global owes creditors $58 million and its liquidator has referred Xu and Lee to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for alleged possible breaches of the Corporations Act. Asic has said it does not intend to take action at this time. The HyperVerse investment scheme is among those that appear to have escaped scrutiny in Australia despite being flagged by regulators overseas, by one as a possible "scam" and another as a "suspected pyramid scheme." Lee has denied HyperVerse was a scam and disputes being its founder.
A man named Steven Reece Lewis was introduced as the chief executive officer of HyperVerse at an online global launch event in December 2021, with video messages of support from a clutch of celebrities released on Twitter the following month, including from the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and actor Chuck Norris. Promotional material released for HyperVerse, which was linked to a previous scheme called HyperFund, said Reece Lewis was a graduate of the University of Leeds and held a master's degree from the University of Cambridge. A brief career summary of Reece Lewis, which was presented in a video launch for potential investors, said he had worked for Goldman Sachs, sold a web development company to Adobe and launched an IT start-up firm, before being recruited to head up HyperVerse by the HyperTech group. This was the umbrella organization for a range of Hyper-branded crypto schemes.
Lee spoke at the launch event as "chairman" of the HyperTech group, while Xu was introduced as the group's "founder." The company praised Reece Lewis's "strong performance and drive," citing his credentials as the reason for his recruitment. Guardian Australia has confirmed that neither the University of Leeds nor the University of Cambridge has any record of someone by the name Steven Reece Lewis on their databases. No records exist of Steven Reece Lewis on the UK companies register, Companies House, or on the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Adobe, a publicly listed company since 1986, has no record of any acquisition of a company owned by a Steven Reece Lewis in any of its public SEC filings. It is understood that Goldman Sachs could find no record of Reece Lewis having worked for the company. Guardian Australia was unable to find a LinkedIn profile for Reece Lewis or any internet presence other than HyperVerse promotional material. A Twitter account in Reece Lewis's name was set up a month before he appeared in the HyperVerse video launch and was used to promote the scheme on the platform for just six months before the account became inactive.
A man named Steven Reece Lewis was introduced as the chief executive officer of HyperVerse at an online global launch event in December 2021, with video messages of support from a clutch of celebrities released on Twitter the following month, including from the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and actor Chuck Norris. Promotional material released for HyperVerse, which was linked to a previous scheme called HyperFund, said Reece Lewis was a graduate of the University of Leeds and held a master's degree from the University of Cambridge. A brief career summary of Reece Lewis, which was presented in a video launch for potential investors, said he had worked for Goldman Sachs, sold a web development company to Adobe and launched an IT start-up firm, before being recruited to head up HyperVerse by the HyperTech group. This was the umbrella organization for a range of Hyper-branded crypto schemes.
Lee spoke at the launch event as "chairman" of the HyperTech group, while Xu was introduced as the group's "founder." The company praised Reece Lewis's "strong performance and drive," citing his credentials as the reason for his recruitment. Guardian Australia has confirmed that neither the University of Leeds nor the University of Cambridge has any record of someone by the name Steven Reece Lewis on their databases. No records exist of Steven Reece Lewis on the UK companies register, Companies House, or on the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Adobe, a publicly listed company since 1986, has no record of any acquisition of a company owned by a Steven Reece Lewis in any of its public SEC filings. It is understood that Goldman Sachs could find no record of Reece Lewis having worked for the company. Guardian Australia was unable to find a LinkedIn profile for Reece Lewis or any internet presence other than HyperVerse promotional material. A Twitter account in Reece Lewis's name was set up a month before he appeared in the HyperVerse video launch and was used to promote the scheme on the platform for just six months before the account became inactive.
You had me at "HyperVerse" (Score:3)
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Oh man! The "Hyper"-verse!!!
"Hyper" is clearly *more* than "meta", so you *KNOW* this is gonna be the shit!
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CEO announces himself as ... (Score:5, Funny)
M-M-M-Max Headroom.
Re: CEO announces himself as ... (Score:2)
Entirely made up (Score:4, Insightful)
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Some AI hallucinated him.
Pretty soon we'll have to demand in inperson blood draw before we can accept someone actually exists.
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So, how much have you lost?
No, I was never that stupid as to go for crypto, for which the only purpose is illegal sales and tax fraud.
So they know who he isn't (Score:1)
Cryptocurrencies and crooks (Score:2)
The CEO exists (Score:4, Insightful)
The headline inaccurately says the CEO does not exist. But someone submitted forms and signed paperwork. This person is legally responsible for anything wrong that happened. This person is hiding under a fake name and biography but exists as a human.
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Scary stuff; informative (Score:2)
Thank you
So crapto is good for something after all! (Score:2)
Good for a good laugh that is. This one made me smile.
Now here is a challenge: Make a crapcoin with no people involved! AI is not there yet (by a very long shot), but set it up, then let it run by entirely by itself and simply have it pay no money ever to anybody.
Re: So crapto is good for something after all! (Score:2)
"1000s lost millions" - is this what Darwinian evolution looks like for the technologically illiterate?
Any believer still deny how crypto is a ponzi? A hilarious joke, sure. Keep 'm coming!
Capitlistic Darwin Evolution at work (Score:2)
Capitlistic Darwin Evolution at work
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Believers do not understand anything. All they can do is "believe". So whenever faced with adversity, e.g. rational argument" or "facts", they do just that. Ever wondered why so many believers are around? Simple: While life generally throws enough at everybody to give them a very good chance to find out how things actually work, most people are not willing to use that opportunity and instead prefer to believe something, typically some made-up crap.
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I'm not sure, but I don't think it's a ponzi. Much of it is, indeed, fraudulent, but I believe not in the same way. I'm not versed in the area, but I think it's a different con game. And some is "legit". It's a way to get value transmitted across borders that try to prevent it. It's not surprising if such methods are expensive.
Soon to be on CNBC (Score:2)
I look forward to this episode of American Greed
Fraudsters commit fraud; News at 11 (Score:2)
An ideal fit! (Score:2)
A chief executive officer whose claimed qualifications appear to have no basis in fact...
This makes him perfect for the job. As crypto traders "invest" by selling imaginary currency to each other rather than by building anything in the real world, startup companies staffed by deepfakes are a logical advance of the art.
So what's thew next step: Mint an NFT of the fake CEO's fake image?
Money is always a matter of confidence (Score:2)
Both paper money and gold are equally useless without the infrastructure around them. Paper money has zero reality of course, but even gold is actually a remarkably useless metal in practice, though, as with crypto currencies, it retains an 'excess' value because people believe in it. In every case money is of value because it enables something to happen which would otherwise be far more difficult or impossible; as a medium of exchange it removes the need to barter your particular possessions for the actual
[2 astronauts floating in space, looking at Earth] (Score:2)
[closer astronaut pointing a handgun at the other astronaut]
"Wait, it's always been a scam?"
"Always has been."