SEC Charges Hex Founder Richard Heart with Misappropriating Millions of Dollars of Investor Funds from Unregistered Crypto Asset Securities Offerings that Raised more than $1 Billion

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Richard Heart (aka Richard Schueler) and three unincorporated entities that he controls, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX, with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion in crypto assets from investors. The SEC also charged Heart and PulseChain with fraud for misappropriating at least $12 million of offering proceeds to purchase luxury goods including sports cars, watches, and a 555-carat black diamond known as ‘The Enigma’ – reportedly the largest black diamond in the world. According to the SEC’s complaint, Heart began marketing Hex in 2018, claiming it was the first high-yield “blockchain certificate of deposit,” and began promoting Hex tokens as an investment designed to make people “rich.” From at least December 2019 through November 2020, Heart and Hex allegedly offered and sold Hex tokens in an unregistered…