Bob Hartheimer, CEO of Evolve Bank & Trust in Tennessee, was fired after U.S. law enforcement officials caught him posing as a 15-year-old boy wooing a law enforcement officer on the gay dating app Grindr.
On October 19th, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents logged on. grinder According to an affidavit from a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent unsealed on Tuesday, a user called “Tom” wrote a message to the person pretending to be a teenage boy saying, “I would love to date an older, cooler guy.”
The two discussed meeting in person later this week, according to the affidavit. above snapchatthey talked about the sexual acts they might perform. “Tom” requested photos of “the boy” without panties, and also sent naked photos of himself to the undercover agent. The FBI obtained Tomm’s IP address from Snapchat and comcastthe affidavit showed.
Hartheimer was arrested in Memphis on Oct. 23 on charges of attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor, according to warrants.
Blake Ballin, an Evolve spokesperson and an attorney representing Hartheimer, told CNBC on Saturday that Evolve had fired its CEO.
“Bob’s family is aware of the charges,” Ballin wrote in an email. “His family loves and supports him and requests privacy at this difficult time in his life. There will be no further comment at this time.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Hartheimer was fired from Evolve Bank.
Evolve said the bank’s finance chief, Mark Mosteller, and general counsel, Joel Weltzin, will continue to run the bank’s operations as they did before hiring Hartheimer in August.
“We are in close contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and have been assured that this is a private matter and is not connected in any way to the bank or its operations,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Last year, Evolve was embroiled in the bankruptcy of financial technology startup Synapse, cutting off access to systems that process transactions and account details. Fintech apps like Yotta collaborated with Evolve and other banks, with Synapse acting as an intermediary.
Synapse’s practice of depositing app users’ funds in various banks, including Evolve, led to accounting problems that resulted in up to $96 million in deposits going missing. CNBC reported that thousands of Americans lost money.
Evolve also suffered a cyberattack in 2024, where hackers obtained customer information and demanded a ransom. The bank said it did not pay the ransom and the data was eventually posted online.
“This is a structural change and demonstrates our continued commitment to working hard to regain the trust of our customers, employees, regulators and investors,” Evolve said in an August statement announcing the selection of Hartheimer to replace CEO Scott Stafford, who left the company after joining the company in 2004.
The bank touted Mr. Hartheimer’s experience as director of resolution for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and years of experience as a regulatory consultant for fintech companies.
“For the past 40 years, I have led, steered, and advised institutions across the financial industry,” Hartheimer wrote on his LinkedIn profile.
The 100-year-old bank had been profitable since 2003, but reported a net loss in each of the first three quarters of 2025, according to data kept by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Hugh Song contributed reporting.
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