Hex founder Richard Heart was detained in Istanbul on Wednesday under an Interpol Red Notice, according to Turkey’s Daily Sabah, which cited state news agency IHA.
Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained with his wife on Wednesday morning in an operation carried out by Istanbul police and Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, or MIT, the report said. Police had monitored his address in the city’s Beşiktaş district before the arrest.
Items seized during the operation
IHA reported that officers seized 12 mobile phones, several laptops, graphics cards, rifles, pistols, two drones, gold bracelets, and a large amount of cash in different currencies.
Red Notice requested by Finland
A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition or similar legal action. It is not an international arrest warrant.
Interpol issued the notice for Heart in 2024 at Finland’s request. The notice lists one charge, aggravated tax fraud. The report added that Finnish authorities have also sought him over an alleged assault. Daily Sabah described the notice as relating to high-value cryptocurrency fraud.
Hex and the earlier SEC case
Heart launched Hex in 2018 and marketed it as a high-yield “blockchain certificate of deposit.”
In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Heart and three entities he controlled—Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX—with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion. The SEC also accused him of misappropriating at least $12 million of investor funds to buy luxury goods, including sports cars, watches, and a 555-carat black diamond known as “The Enigma.”
A federal judge dismissed the complaint in February 2025 for lack of jurisdiction, finding that Heart’s activities were not clearly aimed at U.S. investors. The SEC did not amend the complaint by an April deadline, ending the case. Heart’s lawyer called that outcome “a complete victory.”
Extradition status remains unclear
It was not immediately clear whether Finnish authorities had requested Heart’s extradition from Turkey.
