(NewsNation) — An investigation by The Guardian appears to have uncovered that the CEO of a cryptocurrency hedge fund does not actually exist.
Steven Reece Lewis’ résumé claimed he worked at Goldman Sachs and sold a company to Adobe before he was recruited to lead HyperVerse by the HyperTech group. The Guardian cited a career summary of Reece Lewis, which was presented to potential investors.
The Guardian was unable to verify any of Reece Lewis’ education or employment claims.
HyperVerse was an Australian investment plan that thousands of investors put as much as $1.3 billion into in 2022, according to analysts reported by the outlet.
Following cryptocurrency’s disastrous 2022, last year’s headlines were dominated by convictions and legal settlements as Washington regulators adopted a much more aggressive stance toward the industry.
A jury convicted Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the crypto exchange FTX, of wire fraud and six other charges. Weeks later, the founder of Binance, Chengpeng Zhao, agreed to plead guilty to money laundering charges as part of a settlement between U.S. authorities and the exchange. Among the other crypto heavyweights that met legal trouble were Coinbase, Gemini and Genesis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.