Turkish authorities detained Richard Heart, the founder of the cryptocurrency Hex, in Istanbul on Wednesday, acting on an Interpol Red Notice requested by Finland, Turkish media reported.
Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained with his wife in a morning operation by Istanbul police and Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), according to the Daily Sabah, citing the IHA news agency. Police had monitored his address in the Beşiktaş district before the arrest.
Officers seized a dozen mobile phones, several laptops, graphics cards, rifles, pistols, two drones, gold bracelets and a large amount of cash in different currencies, IHA reported.
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. Interpol issued the notice for Heart in 2024 at Finland's request. The notice lists a single charge, aggravated tax fraud, though Finnish authorities have also investigated him over an alleged assault. The Daily Sabah described the notice as relating to high-value cryptocurrency fraud.
Heart launched Hex in 2018, marketing it as a high-yield "blockchain certificate of deposit." In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Heart and three entities he controlled, Hex, PulseChain and PulseX, of conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion. It 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." The SEC later dropped the case, according to Decrypt's report.