Shelly Cullen, who promoted the "Lion's Share" crypto currency pyramid scheme that incurred losses of $17 million for some 150,000 people around the world, has been ordered to pay a record amount of $5.9 million by the Auckland District Court.
Cullen was taken to court by the Commerce Commission for her role promoting the pyramid scheme in April 2023, and convicted a year later. An estimated 83% of "Lion's Share" scheme participants lost money, the Commission said.
The District Court imposed the largest ever criminal fine issued to an individual under the Fair Trading Act, $600,000, along with an order to pay over $5.3 million to "reflect the value of the commercial gain" Cullen made from the scheme.
Cullen had bragged about being "the biggest scammer out there" and said she was not worried about the authorities coming after her, because "they can do nothing to me". She promoted the crypto currency pyramid on social media and YouTube, and has continued to promote schemes on Facebook after the court case against her this year.
Her whereabouts are not known, and Cullen did not attend the April court hearing.
“Ms Cullen showed a blatant disregard for any consequences of her actions, and so the Commission argued for the Court to order Ms Cullen pay the value of the commercial gain she made from ‘Lion’s Share,’ as well as the fine imposed," the Commission's deputy chair Anne Callinan said.
“The penalty needed to outweigh what Ms Cullen made through her offending to ensure that the consequences of breaching the Fair Trading Act are enough to discourage her and others from reoffending,” Callinan said.
Callinan said that if people come across a scheme promoted by Cullen, or an "investment opportunity", they should ask themselves if they're being told to recruit others into the programme, and if that is the main way to make money.
If the answer to both those questions is yes, Callinan advised people to reach out to trusted friends and family to get a second opinion.
3 Comments
https://comcom.govt.nz/consumers/dealing-with-typical-situations/pyrami…
Hmm, no inherent value in the underlying product, makes money only by recruiting new investors. What else does that remind me of?
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