Richard Heart's Istanbul Vacation Comes With an Early Checkout 🚨

Richard Heart, the founder of the Hex cryptocurrency, has been detained in Istanbul by Turkish authorities acting on an Interpol Red Notice, Daily Sabah reported Wednesday, citing Turkish news agency IHA. Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was taken into custody along with his wife on Wednesday morning in an operation carried out by Istanbul police and Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT). Officers had been monitoring his address in the city's Beşiktaş district prior to the arrest.

Police seized a dozen mobile phones, several laptops, graphics cards, rifles, pistols, two drones, gold bracelets and a large amount of cash in multiple currencies during the operation, IHA reported. Interpol issued the Red Notice for Schueler in 2024 at the request of Finland, listing a single charge of aggravated tax fraud, though Finnish authorities have also sought him over an alleged assault. "A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition or similar legal action, and is not an international arrest warrant," according to Interpol.

The 2023 SEC complaint against Heart and three entities he controlled — Hex, PulseChain and PulseX — alleged unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion, and accused him of misappropriating at least $12 million of investor funds to purchase 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, ruling that Heart's activities were not clearly aimed at U.S. investors, and the SEC declined to amend it by an April deadline. Heart's lawyer called the outcome "a complete victory."

Heart launched Hex in 2018, marketing the token as a high-yield "blockchain certificate of deposit." Daily Sabah characterized the Interpol notice as relating to high-value cryptocurrency fraud. It was not immediately clear whether Finnish authorities have formally requested Heart's extradition from Turkey.