Tennessee’s Evolve Bank & Trust has fired its newly appointed CEO, Bob Hartheimer, after he was arrested in an FBI sting operation. Court documents seen by the Wall Street Journal on Friday revealed that Hartheimer, who had taken over as Evolve’s chief executive in August, was charged with “attempting to produce child pornography and sending sexually explicit material to a minor.”
According to the Investigators, Hartheimer believed he was chatting with a 15-year-old boy on the gay dating app Grindr, but the person on the other side was actually a law enforcement officer posing as a minor. Here’s what happened.
CEO charged with child pornography crimes
According to the affidavit, an undercover FBI agent acting as a 15-year-old boy started chatting with Hartheimer on the dating app on October 19. During the conversation, Hartheimer (unaware he was speaking to an officer) asked to move the chat to Snapchat, where he allegedly sent a sexually explicit photo of himself and discussed plans to meet for sex.
Later, investigators tracked the social media account and arrested Hartheimer at his Memphis apartment. People familiar with the matter told WSJ that agents also seized his belongings during the operation. Hartheimer is currently locked up in jail pending trial.
Evolve responds
Following the arrest, Evolve Bank confirmed that it had terminated Hartheimer’s employment. “We are in close contact with the US Attorney’s Office and have been assured this is a personal matter and does not relate to the bank or its operations in any way,” said Eric Helvie, a spokesperson for Evolve, according to WSJ. “That said, we have offered our full cooperation as they investigate,” the statement added.
Hartheimer’s lawyer, Blake Ballin, said the family is standing by him, asking for privacy. “His family loves and supports him and requests privacy during this difficult period in their lives,” the attorney said.
Who is Bob Hartheimer?
The bank has appointed its finance chief, Mark Mosteller and general counsel Joelle Weltzin, to manage day-to-day operations for now.
Evolve Bank had hired Hartheimer just a few months ago. He previously worked with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Between 1991 and 1995, he oversaw around 200 bank deals as the division’s director. Later, he built his reputation for saving struggling banks, including Sterling Bank, which was later sold to Umpqua Bank in 2014.
Evolve, meanwhile, has been under pressure following the collapse of its fintech partner Synapse, which was a payment middleman for several financial apps, including Yotta. After Synapse went bankrupt earlier this year, nearly $100 million in customer deposits went missing.
In 2024, Evolve also suffered a cyberattack in which hackers accessed customer information and demanded ransom. The bank refused to pay, and the stolen data later surfaced online.