After months of legal maneuvering, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially served Hex founder Richard Heart with a lawsuit, alleging fraud.
The lawsuit, which was filed in early February 2021, accuses Heart of disseminating false and misleading information about the Hex cryptocurrency and engaging in other fraudulent activities in connection with the sale of the cryptocurrency to investors. According to the SEC’s complaint, Heart’s scheme defrauded investors out of more than $7 million from 2017 to 2019.
The complaint also accuses Heart of using “affiliate marketing” to lure new investors, promising them that they could earn “high returns” if they purchased Hex. Additionally, the SEC alleged that Heart failed to disclose certain key elements about Hex, including his own financial interest in the sale of the digital token and how he utilized those proceeds.
Heart had previously attempted to delay the lawsuit, claiming that the SEC was taking too long to serve him officially. However, the SEC renewed its motion in April and has now successfully served Heart with the complaint.
It remains to be seen how Heart will respond to the lawsuit. He could attempt to settle the case, or he could litigate it in court. In either case, this will likely be an incredibly complicated legal process, and the outcome will have reverberations for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
