Crypto mogul Richard Heart’s Instagram biography is a case study in peacocking: “I own the world's largest diamond, quickest #Ferrari and most expensive #Rolex's ever made.”
But now, in what has become a routine storyline for crypto’s high-flying tycoons, Heart is accused of funding his lifestyle with millions of dollars in misappropriated funds. On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him and three of his entities with “conducting unregistered offerings” of crypto securities, which collectively raised “more than $1 billion.”
Heart and one of the entities were also charged with fraud for “misappropriating at least $12 million” and using that money to splash out on “sports cars, watches,” and his massive “555-carat black diamond known as ‘The Enigma’”—which was the world’s biggest of its type when it sold for $4.3 million last year.
