The Securities and Exchange Commission charged online entrepreneur Richard Heart with fraudulently raising more than $1 billion in three unregistered cryptocurrency offers, as well as cheating investors out of $12.1 million to purchase luxuries such as the world’s largest black diamond.
The SEC claimed in a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn that Heart, also known as Richard Schueler, advertised his Hex token, PulseX asset trading platform, and PulseChain asset network on YouTube and other websites as paths to “grandiose wealth.”
He was also accused of spending PulseChain investor cash on McLaren and Ferrari sports cars, four $3.02 million Rolex watches, and “The Enigma,” a 555-carat black diamond worth 3.16 million British pounds (then $4.28 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in February 2022.