Billionaire heiress Taylor Thomson, a member of the family behind media and financial powerhouse Thomson Reuters, has reportedly lost over $80 million in cryptocurrencies after relying on investment guidance tied to a psychic.
According to a recent report from WSJ, Thomson leaned heavily on her former best friend, Ashley Richardson, who became deeply involved in managing her crypto portfolio. The two women had allegedly consulted a celebrity psychic and other spiritual advisers before Richardson began overseeing Thomson’s digital assets.
Millions Lost as Market Collapsed
At the peak of the 2021 bull market, Richardson was said to be managing more than $140 million in Thomson’s crypto holdings across multiple wallets. But when markets turned sharply in mid-2022, the portfolio suffered devastating losses.
Consulting firm Guidepost Solutions estimated that Thomson lost more than $80 million and accused Richardson of executing over 450,000 trades without proper authorization, exposing the portfolio to risky strategies.
Richardson has rejected those claims,
“Everything I did was based on her instructions, as part of her effort to minimize losses.”
She also emphasized that there was no written contract, only a verbal agreement, and insisted she never profited personally.
The fallout turned into a heated legal battle in 2023. Thomson sued Richardson and the blockchain project Persistence (XPRT), where she had invested $40 million. That investment collapsed almost entirely, with XPRT plunging from a May 2021 peak of $16.59 to just $0.037 today, a staggering 99% decline.
Thomson is now seeking $25 million in damages, claiming Richardson and Persistence misrepresented the investment and arranged a secret “finder’s fee” for Richardson. A Thomson spokesperson dismissed Richardson’s account, saying: “Ms. Richardson has taken her bogus story to the media in an attempt to extract more money from Ms. Thomson.”
In response, Richardson has countersued for $10 million, claiming defamation after Thomson allegedly accused her of fraud. While Thomson has since reached a settlement with Persistence, the case against Richardson remains unresolved.
Another Investor Hit by $3M Phishing Scam
The dangers of crypto investing don’t stop at legal battles. In a separate case, a crypto investor recently lost $3.05 million in Tether (USDT) after unknowingly approving a malicious blockchain transaction.
Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain flagged the loss, highlighting how attackers exploit the common habit of users checking only the first and last few characters of wallet addresses.
The phishing scam is part of a broader trend: according to CertiK’s latest security report, crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion in the first half of 2025 alone. Of this, $1.7 billion came from wallet breaches across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for $410 million across 132 attacks.
