‘Want to trade nudes?’: Evolve Bank CEO fired after trying to meet 15-year-old boy for sex

Robert “Bob” Hartheimer has been fired from his role as chief executive officer of Evolve Bank after he tried to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex.

Published on: Nov 2, 2025, 06:46:20 IST

By Sanya Jain

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Robert “Bob” Hartheimer has been fired from his role as chief executive officer of Evolve Bank after he tried to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex. Hartheimer was arrested last week in Memphis after he propositioned the 15-year-old boy on the app Grindr, unaware that the boy was actually an undercover FBI agent.

Robert Hartheimer has been fired as CEO of Evolve Bank.

How it began

According to a CNBC report, on October 19, an undercover FBI agent logged into Grindr pretending to be a 15-year-old boy.

A user called “Tomm” — later revealed to be Hartheimer — messaged the ‘boy’ and eventually sent him an explicit photograph after exchanging a few texts.

“Hey any chance u would hu with an older and chill guy,” ‘Tomm’ asked the FBI agent posing as a teen on Grindr, according to an affidavit that was unsealed on Tuesday.

The two spoke about meeting in person and also moved their conversation to Snapchat, where they discussed sex acts they might perform.

Hartheimer asked the boy for a photograph without shorts on, and sent him one of himself naked. “Do u want to trade nudes?” the CEO of Evolve Bank asked the ‘boy’, according to the affidavit.

The FBI was able to trace the account of Tomm to Bob Hartheimer.

Arrest and charges

Hartheimer was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee on October 23. He has been charged with attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene material to a minor, according to a warrant.

People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that FBI agents in bulletproof vests arrested Hartheimer at Evolve Bank’s headquarters in Memphis on October 23.

Blake Ballin, a lawyer representing Hartheimer, told CNBC on Saturday that he had been fired from his position as CEO of Evolve Bank & Trust. Evolve confirmed this.

“Bob’s family is aware of the charges,” Ballin said. “His family loves and supports him and requests privacy during this difficult period in their lives. We have no further comment at this time.”

Eric Helvie, a spokesman for Evolve, also confirmed that Hartheimer has been fired.

“We are in close contact with the US Attorney’s office and have been assured that this is a personal matter and does not relate to the Bank or its operations in any way,” Helvie said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “That said, we have offered our full cooperation as they investigate.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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