- Richard Heart recently tweeted expressing his belief that he has been unfairly targeted by the SEC, highlighting his efforts to prevent scams
- The founder of HEX has been accused of selling unlicensed securities and defrauding investors
- Despite his self-portrayal as a good guy protecting others, his history includes past convictions for spamming and questionable business practices.
Richard Heart has yet to formally address the charges brought against him this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but his first tweets since the indictments clearly show that he feels he’s been unfairly targeted. Heart is accused of selling unlicensed securities and then defrauding investors through his HEX operation, including the misappropriation of $12 million, but the founder has appealed publicly for people to look at the good he has provided the world, in particular his attempts to stop people from getting scammed.
Long Time Coming
The crypto world has been waiting for years for Heart, real name Richard Schueler, to get hit by US officials in some capacity for his HEX scheme, which is perpetually boasting about the massive gains that have been made by the token since its launch in 2019, whose only purpose is apparently to increase in value.
Heart collected over $1 billion in cryptocurrency for those buying in prior to its launch, with five-year locks-ins getting the biggest theoretical return, but following a rise to $0.50 the price is back to where it was three years ago.
Heart has not commented publicly on the charges, but a tweet posted yesterday gives a clear idea that he feels hard done by:
I grew up poor. I lived in a warehouse. I worked hard and eventually raised $27,500,000 for charity. Wrote free self help books, free self help videos, called the Bitcoin top at $65,000 years ago. The last time I was at my moms house I installed a bidet for her. I did everything…
— Richard Heart (@RichardHeartWin) August 3, 2023
This image of a good guy who pulled himself up by the bootstraps and is just looking out for other people is at odds with Heart’s known history: in 1996 he was convicted of spamming a free speech organization with emails which “bore deceptive information such as a forged return e-mail address or misleading subject line”, offered courses on how to spam people with Chinese-based website and avoid having to pay tax on the proceeds, and sold “stereo equipment I don’t own yet” to pay for dental treatment.
Notably, Heart did now allow responses to his tweet from unapproved followers.
Will Heart Play the Anti-scammer in Court?
While it is true that he has warned against some big crypto operations that have gone under, a great many people have been doing the same thing without simultaneously scamming and defrauding the very people he claims to be protecting (allegedly).
We will have to wait for the formal response to his lawsuit to see what his defence will be, but it’s highly likely that he will paint himself as the same selfless hero in order to preserve what he thinks is his reputation.
