Hex founder Richard Heart (legal name Richard James Schueler) was detained in Istanbul on Wednesday after Turkish authorities acted on an Interpol Red Notice, Turkish outlet Daily Sabah reported, citing the IHA news agency.
Police, working with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), arrested Heart and his wife in an operation after monitoring his residence in the Beşiktaş district. Officers seized a variety of items from the premises, including about a dozen mobile phones, several laptops and graphics cards, two drones, rifles and pistols, gold bracelets and a large sum of cash in multiple currencies, IHA said.
The Interpol Red Notice—issued in 2024 at Finland’s request—asks law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition or similar legal action. It is not an international arrest warrant. The notice filed for Heart lists a charge of aggravated tax fraud; Finnish authorities have also sought him over an alleged assault. Turkish reporting described the notice in the context of high‑value cryptocurrency fraud.
Heart launched Hex in 2018, pitching it as a high‑yield “blockchain certificate of deposit.” He has faced major legal scrutiny: in 2023 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Heart and three entities he controls—Hex, PulseChain and PulseX—with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto‑asset securities that it said raised more than $1 billion. The SEC also alleged Heart misappropriated at least $12 million in investor funds to buy luxury items, including sports cars, watches and a 555‑carat black diamond nicknamed “The Enigma.”
That U.S. case ended earlier this year when a federal judge dismissed the SEC’s complaint in February 2025 for lack of jurisdiction, finding Heart’s activities were not clearly aimed at U.S. investors. The SEC declined to seek an amended complaint by an April deadline, effectively closing the matter—an outcome Heart’s lawyer called “a complete victory.”
At the time of the Turkish detention report it was not immediately clear whether Finnish authorities had formally requested Heart’s extradition from Turkey. We’ll update as more details become available.
Police, working with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), arrested Heart and his wife in an operation after monitoring his residence in the Beşiktaş district. Officers seized a variety of items from the premises, including about a dozen mobile phones, several laptops and graphics cards, two drones, rifles and pistols, gold bracelets and a large sum of cash in multiple currencies, IHA said.
The Interpol Red Notice—issued in 2024 at Finland’s request—asks law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition or similar legal action. It is not an international arrest warrant. The notice filed for Heart lists a charge of aggravated tax fraud; Finnish authorities have also sought him over an alleged assault. Turkish reporting described the notice in the context of high‑value cryptocurrency fraud.
Heart launched Hex in 2018, pitching it as a high‑yield “blockchain certificate of deposit.” He has faced major legal scrutiny: in 2023 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Heart and three entities he controls—Hex, PulseChain and PulseX—with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto‑asset securities that it said raised more than $1 billion. The SEC also alleged Heart misappropriated at least $12 million in investor funds to buy luxury items, including sports cars, watches and a 555‑carat black diamond nicknamed “The Enigma.”
That U.S. case ended earlier this year when a federal judge dismissed the SEC’s complaint in February 2025 for lack of jurisdiction, finding Heart’s activities were not clearly aimed at U.S. investors. The SEC declined to seek an amended complaint by an April deadline, effectively closing the matter—an outcome Heart’s lawyer called “a complete victory.”
At the time of the Turkish detention report it was not immediately clear whether Finnish authorities had formally requested Heart’s extradition from Turkey. We’ll update as more details become available.