Billionaire heiress Taylor Thomson has reportedly lost more than $80 million in digital assets after following investment guidance tied to a psychic.
Key Takeaways:
- Taylor Thomson reportedly lost over $80 million in crypto investments managed with guidance tied to a psychic.
- Her former friend Ashley Richardson allegedly executed 450,000 trades.
- The dispute has led to lawsuits and countersuits, with Thomson settling with blockchain project Persistence.
According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report published Monday, Thomson, a member of the family behind media and financial giant Thomson Reuters, poured millions into cryptocurrencies with the assistance of her former best friend, Ashley Richardson.
The two women had allegedly consulted a celebrity psychic and other spiritual advisers before Richardson became heavily involved in managing Thomson’s crypto holdings.
Richardson Oversaw $140M in Crypto at Bull Market Peak
At the height of the 2021 bull market, Richardson was said to oversee more than $140 million in Thomson’s digital assets spread across multiple wallets.
But the sharp downturn in crypto markets in mid-2022 devastated the portfolio.
Consulting firm Guidepost Solutions estimated Thomson’s losses at over $80 million and claimed Richardson executed more than 450,000 trades without proper authorization, exposing her to high-risk strategies.
Richardson rejected the allegations, arguing she acted under Thomson’s direction and only made trades to maintain liquidity in thinly traded tokens.
She emphasized that there was no formal contract between them, only a verbal agreement, and insisted she never profited personally.
“Everything I did was based on her instructions, as part of her effort to minimize losses,” Richardson told the WSJ.
The dispute escalated into a legal battle in 2023. Thomson filed a lawsuit against Richardson and Persistence (XPRT), a proof-of-stake blockchain project launched in 2021.
She had invested $40 million in its native token, which has since collapsed in value.
XPRT peaked at $16.59 on May 15, 2021, according to CoinGecko, but currently trades at about $0.037 — a drop of 99% from its all-time high.
Thomson is seeking $25 million in damages, alleging Richardson and Persistence arranged a secret “finder’s fee” for Richardson and misrepresented the investment.
A Thomson spokesperson dismissed Richardson’s narrative, saying: “Ms. Richardson has taken her bogus story to the media in an attempt to extract more money from Ms. Thomson.”
Richardson has countersued for $10 million, claiming defamation after Thomson allegedly told others she had committed fraud.
According to the WSJ, Thomson has since reached a settlement with Persistence, but the case against Richardson remains ongoing.
Investor Loses $3M in Crypto Phishing Scam
As reported, a cryptocurrency investor has fallen victim to a phishing scam, losing $3.05 million in Tether (USDT) after unknowingly signing a malicious blockchain transaction.
The loss, flagged by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on Wednesday, underscores the rising threat of phishing attacks targeting digital asset holders.
The attacker exploited a common habit among crypto users: validating only the first and last few characters of a wallet address while ignoring the middle.
Crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches in the first half of 2025, driven largely by wallet compromises and phishing attacks, according to CertiK’s latest security report.
Wallet breaches alone caused $1.7 billion in losses across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for over $410 million across 132 attacks.
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