SEC serves suit to evasive Richard Heart in Finland, but not in person

December 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

SEC files complaint against Hex founder for allegedly offering unregistered securities

July 31, 2023 Coin Telegraph

According to the SEC, Richard Heart allegedly used more than $12 million of investor funds to buy "a 555-carat diamond, expensive watches, and high-end automobiles.”

The United States Securities and Exchange (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Richard Schueler, better known in the crypto space as Richard Heart, for alleged unregistered offerings of three tokens.

In a July 31 filing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC claimed Heart had raised more than $1 billion through “the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities”, which included HEX, PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX). According to the complaint, Heart touted the tokens “as a pathway to grandiose wealth for investors”, hiring developers to maintain the framework behind the crypto assets.

The SEC alleged Heart violated federal securities laws and defrauded retail investors both in the U.S. and abroad. Many of the allegations focused on the HEX founder promising large returns for investors in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits. For example, he allegedly accepted more than 2.3 million Ether (ETH) between December 2019 and November 2020 — worth roughly $678 million at the time — in exchange for HEX tokens, $354 million in exchange for the promise of future delivery of PLS tokens, and $676 million in exchange for the promise of future delivery of PLSX tokens.

“Heart and PulseChain defrauded investors by misappropriating at least $12.1 million of PulseChain investor funds,” said the complaint. “Instead of using these investor funds to develop and market the PulseChain network, or even to fulfill Heart’s explicit statement that invested funds supported ‘freedom of speech’ Heart and PulseChain used at least $12.1 million of investor funds for Heart’s personal luxury purchases, including a 555-carat diamond, expensive watches, and high-end automobiles.”

Today we 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.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) July 31, 2023

The U.S. regulator said it was seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against Heart and the projects. Heart, who resides in Finland, was subject to a civil summons requiring him or his legal team to respond to the SEC complaint within 21 days or risk default judgment.

The civil action by the SEC was the latest in what many critics have called a “regulation by enforcement” approach to crypto in the United States. The federal regulator has ongoing cases against crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance, among others, for similar allegations of unregistered securities offerings.

Many in the crypto space viewed HEX with skepticism despite the price of the token often making significant gains, surging in 2021 to reach an all-time high of roughly $0.48. Immediately following news of the SEC lawsuit, the price dropped more than 26% from roughly $0.0084 to $0.0062.

Following scrutiny from the SEC, many reported that Heart seemed to be removing certain references to Hex, PulseChain and PulseX from his social media posts and profiles. According to his X bio, Heart “doesn't read messages, email, newspapers, magazines, letters, communication of any form or listen to the radio or nearly anything else”.

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Nuggets News CEO under fire over alleged unpaid loans and investment funds

July 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Alex Saunders

Popular crypto influencer Alex Saunders is under heavy criticism, with numerous associates levying accusations Saunders owes them significant sums of Bitcoin.

Alex Saunders, the popular crypto influencer behind Nuggets News, is facing a slew of claims he failed to repay crypto loans, along with allegations that funds invested in a new project had been redirected to a crypto exchange.

Saunders is one of the most highly regarded Australian crypto educators. He provides a paid service and he has 140,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Over recent days, crypto Twitter has been ablaze with allegations that Saunders has run out of capital. Numerous individuals including YouTuber Bitboy claim that Saunders personally owes them multiple Bitcoin each, prompting investigations from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

According to the AFR, Saunders received roughly $7 million from 100 or so investors seeking to back his forthcoming stablecoin project, Decentral Bank, after he promoted it to Nuggets News followers in April. The publication claims to have spoken more one dozen investors who backed the project, with each estimating to have put in roughly $50,000.

The AFR reported that investments to Saunders' wallet appear to have quickly been moved onto popular crypto derivatives exchange, FTX. The exchange's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, has indicated the team is already investigating the allegations.

Cointelegraph has contacted Saunders to offer him the chance to respond to the allegations and will update this story if he replies.

Another to add - 1250 $ETH - sending to FTX up until 5 days ago. pic.twitter.com/6881KeTEOW
— DeFi Ted (0xbakes) (@DeFi_Ted) July 26, 2021

Shot through the Heart

Saunders' public fall from grace appears to have begun after he appeared on a live stream with the controversial HEX founder, Richard Heart, on July 19.

The pair’s exchange became heated after Saunders advanced data from crypto data aggregator Santiment to argue that HEX’s order books are thin, asserting its markets are unable to support meaningful selling pressure.

I just exposed $HEX on a live stream so thoroughly @RichardHeartWin cut the stream. This is the first time he has ever cut a video mid stream. Thanks to @santimentfeed for the great data that allowed me to expose this fraud. Watch here before he deletes: https://t.co/zM7IYjJg6g
— Alex Saunders ‍ (@AlexSaundersAU) July 18, 2021

After booting Saunders from the live stream, Heart took to Twitter sharing apparent screenshots from private conversations with Saunders, asserting that he had had “begged” him for a 50 BTC loan and attempted to solicit a “pre allocation” in a forthcoming token.

Heart's post left Decentral Bank's backers reportedly fearful of their investments and many sought refunds. The AFR claimed to have seen posts in a private Facebook group in which Saunders agreed to repay his investors although refunds are yet to be issued.

I've never shared a conversation publicly before, but I feel I have to here. @AlexSaundersAU. Alex begged me for a 50 BTC loan. Then tried to sell me a "pre allocation" in a token. Then tried to sell me on just giving him money to talk. I feel this may represent most paid groups. pic.twitter.com/rAoleiDKHv
— R.Heart's forking ETH. HEX.com 40% APR 3866x @558d (@RichardHeartWin) July 18, 2021

The ABC’s July 28 report claims to have seen screenshots of dialogue between Saunders and an overseas hedge fund manager evidencing requests to borrow Bitcoin back on two different occasions, with the fund claiming not have repaid the BTC it lent Saunders back in January. One of the messages attributed to Saunders reportedly reads:

“Sorry to put this on you mate. But I felt like I could trust you. I'd 10x'd my FTX account. Then got greedy."

The ABC states it has spoken to five people based in Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand who claim to be owed money by Saunders.

Saunders is yet to address the accusations on social media, and does not appear to have been active on Twitter since July 23.

Blockchain Australia said it was aware of the claims against Saunders, and have been informed the accusations are “being handled by his legal representative.” Saunders was appointed to Blockchain Australia as a board member in 2019.

Nuggets News spun off into the Collective Shift platform. Managing director Ben Simpson issued a video update on Sunday to members saying he had asked Saunders about the allegations.

"He looked at me straight in the eye and said 'don't worry about, like, you know, there is a couple of people I owe money, I am on repayment plans, don't worry about it.'"

Simpson told the ABC Saunders is no longer involved with Collective Shift, either as a shareholder or contributor.

Richard Heart