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Richard Heart, the founder of HEX and PulseChain, was reportedly detained in Istanbul on October 14 in an operation involving Turkish police and the country’s National Intelligence Organization, according to Ambcrypto. The outlet cited Ihlas News Agency, which was in turn cited by Turkish Daily Sabah, and said the arrest occurred in the city’s Beşiktaş district.
Heart’s legal name is Richard James Schueler. Turkish media tied the detention to an Interpol Red Notice requested by Finland. Heart and his legal team had not released a statement confirming the detention at the time of reporting, and Turkish prosecutors, Finnish police and Interpol had issued no statements verifying the claims.
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Key facts
- Heart was reportedly detained on October 14, 2026 in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, per Turkish media cited by Ambcrypto.
- The operation was linked to an Interpol Red Notice requested by Finland in December 2024, according to News.bitcoin and Decrypt.
- The Finnish case dates to 2024 and concerns suspected aggravated tax fraud and assault; a court remanded Heart in custody in his absence in September 2024, Ambcrypto reported, and he was not convicted of those allegations.
- Seizure figures varied wildly, with some reports citing $600,000 and others up to $4 million in cash, and inconsistent counts of watches recovered.
- A U.S. judge dismissed the SEC’s case over HEX, PulseChain and PulseX in 2025 for lack of jurisdiction; the SEC declined to amend by an April deadline, ending the case.
What the raid reportedly turned up
The three reports describe a seizure that investigators have not documented in any official inventory. News.bitcoin, citing Sözcü, reported $4 million in cash along with 64 luxury watches, firearms and electronics, and said several Turkish accounts described 53 Rolex watches and 11 Patek Philippe timepieces alongside gold jewelry, computers, storage devices and cryptocurrency-related equipment. Ambcrypto noted the cash figure ranged from $600,000 to $4 million and that watch counts also changed between reports, with no official inventory to substantiate any of the numbers independently. Decrypt, citing IHA, described a dozen mobile phones, several laptops, graphics cards, rifles, pistols, two drones, gold bracelets and a large amount of cash in different currencies.
News.bitcoin reported that Heart, 47, is known locally as “Balina James” and was detained along with a woman identified as his wife, A.K. Decrypt also reported that he was detained with his wife. Ambcrypto did not name a second detainee.
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Why it matters
Heart’s legal exposure now runs through two separate jurisdictions. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused him and entities tied to HEX, PulseChain and PulseX in July 2023 of conducting unregistered crypto offerings that raised more than $1 billion, and alleged he diverted at least $12 million toward luxury purchases including a 555.55-carat black diamond known as “The Enigma.” A federal judge dismissed that civil case in 2025 over insufficient jurisdictional connections to the United States, a ruling Heart’s lawyer called a complete victory. The dismissal turned on jurisdiction and did not resolve the underlying allegations on their merits. The Finnish investigation is a separate matter, and it is the one that reportedly underpins the Interpol notice.
What to watch
The open question is whether Turkish authorities transfer Heart to Finland. Neither Turkish nor Finnish officials had independently confirmed the detention or any extradition request at the time of reporting, so formal charges, an extradition filing, or an official statement from either government would be the next concrete development. News.bitcoin also noted that Finnish investigators previously seized roughly 20 luxury watches valued at about $2.6 million from a property in Espoo and placed Heart on Europol’s most-wanted list.
Reported by ambcrypto.com.
Sources: AMBCrypto, News.bitcoin, Decrypt