Turkey confirms detention of Hex founder Richard Heart, says police seized $7.15 million in cash

Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on Saturday (local time) that Richard Heart, founder of the Hex token and the PulseChain network, has been detained in Istanbul.

Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained with his wife on Wednesday in an operation in the city’s Beşiktaş district, Gürlek said in a social media post reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency. Three people identified as the couple’s bodyguards were also detained.

Gürlek said Heart had been reported to Turkish authorities as the subject of an Interpol Red Notice over allegations of a $1 billion crypto-asset fraud in the United States and Finland.

Searches at 15 addresses in the Beşiktaş, Üsküdar and Sarıyer districts turned up $7.15 million and 160,000 Turkish lira in cash, six cryptocurrency cold wallets, 28 watches, 97 pieces of jewellery, four rifles, three unlicensed handguns and 1,400 rounds of ammunition, according to Anadolu. Gürlek said judicial proceedings and examination of the seized material were continuing.

The Block reported that the Red Notice was issued in December 2024 on behalf of Finland, where authorities sought Heart on suspicion of gross tax evasion and assault. It also noted that a US judge dismissed a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Heart in February 2025, and that the agency did not refile it.

Gürlek did not say whether Turkey had received an extradition request, The Block reported. The Block said it had contacted Heart’s lawyer in the SEC case for comment.