A Bank in Crisis: Evolve CEO Fired After FBI Sting Involving a Fake Teenager
In a shocking fall from grace, the CEO of a century-old Evolve bank has been fired after federal law enforcement officials caught him in an undercover sting operation. Bob Hartheimer, the recently hired leader of Tennessee’s Evolve Bank & Trust, was arrested after he allegedly sent explicit messages and a nude photograph to someone he believed was a 15-year-old boy.
The incident, detailed in a newly unsealed FBI affidavit, adds a deeply personal scandal to a bank already struggling with major financial losses, a significant data breach, and its involvement in the collapse of a fintech company that left millions in customer deposits missing.
The Sting Operation
The sequence of events began on October 19th. According to the FBI document, a special agent logged into the gay dating app Grindr, posing as a teenage boy. A user with the profile name “Tomm” initiated contact.
“Hey any chance u would hu with an older and chill guy,” the user “Tomm” wrote, using an abbreviation for “hook up.”
The conversation quickly moved to another platform, Snapchat. There, the two discussed meeting in person and engaged in sexually explicit talk. The affidavit states that “Tomm” asked the undercover agent for a photo without shorts and, in return, sent a naked picture of himself.
Through these digital interactions, the FBI was able to trace the “Tomm” profile. They obtained an IP address from Snapchat and a physical address from the internet provider Comcast. The trail led them directly to Bob Hartheimer.
On October 23rd, Hartheimer was arrested in Memphis. The charges are severe: attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor.
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A Swift Fall and a Bank’s Response
The bank’s response was swift. An Evolve spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Saturday that Hartheimer has been fired. His tenure, which began just this past August, has ended in disgrace.
“We are in close contact with the U.S. “This has been confirmed as a personal issue and has no connection to the Bank or its operations,” the Evolve spokesperson said, citing information from the Attorney’s office in an email.
Blake Ballin, a lawyer now representing Hartheimer, also confirmed the firing. In a brief statement, he wrote, “Bob’s family is aware of the charges. His family loves and supports him and requests privacy during this difficult period in their lives. We have no further comment at this time.”
With Hartheimer gone, control of the bank returns to Chief Financial Officer Mark Mosteller and General Counsel Joelle Weltzin, who had been managing operations before Hartheimer was hired.
A Bank Already on Shaky Ground
The CEO’s arrest is the latest in a string of crises for Evolve Bank. The 100-year-old institution has recently found itself at the center of multiple financial storms.
Last year, Evolve was deeply entangled in the bankruptcy of Synapse, a financial technology startup. Synapse acted as a middleman between banks like Evolve and fintech apps. When it collapsed, its system for tracking transactions broke down, leading to up to $96 million in customer deposits going missing. Thousands of Americans lost access to their money.
Then, earlier this year, Evolve suffered a major cyberattack. Hackers broke in, stole customer information, and demanded a ransom. The bank stated it did not pay, but the stolen data was eventually leaked online.
Financially, the bank is also struggling. After being consistently profitable since 2003, Evolve has reported net losses for each of the first three quarters of 2025.
It was against this backdrop of trouble that Hartheimer was brought in. In an August statement, the bank promoted his hiring as a “structural change, demonstrating our continued commitment to doing the hard work to earn back the trust of our customers, employees, regulators, and investors.”
The bank had touted his experience as a former director at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and as a regulatory consultant. Now, just months into the job meant to restore stability, his personal actions have thrown the bank into an entirely new kind of crisis, one that no amount of financial expertise could have predicted.
Author: Yasir Khan
Date: 02 Nov, 2025
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