A woman's been ordered to pay almost six-million-dollars, for her involvement with a pyramid scheme which saw 83 percent of participants worldwide lose money

Shelly Cullen promoted and benefited financially from a global cryptocurrency-based scheme called 'Lion's Share'.

An Auckland District Court Judge labelled the offending at the top of the scale, and handed down a 600-thousand dollar fine and ordered reparation of 5.3-million dollars she gained through the scheme.

Commerce Commission Deputy Chair, Anne Callinan, says the commission is very pleased that the significant sentence reflects the level of harm caused by pyramid schemes.