Turkish authorities detained Richard Heart, the founder of the Hex token, in Istanbul on Wednesday on an Interpol Red Notice sought by Finland in 2024, Daily Sabah reported, citing the Turkish news agency IHA.

Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained alongside his wife in a Wednesday morning operation run by Istanbul police and Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT). Officers had monitored his address in the Beşiktaş district before moving in, according to the report.

IHA reported that officers seized a dozen mobile phones, several laptops, graphics cards, rifles, pistols, two drones, gold bracelets and a large amount of cash in multiple currencies.

Interpol issued the Red Notice in 2024 at Finland's request on a single charge of aggravated tax fraud, though Finnish authorities have also sought Heart over an alleged assault. Daily Sabah described the notice as relating to high-value cryptocurrency fraud. A Red Notice asks law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition; it is not an international arrest warrant.

What happened to the SEC's case against Heart?

The detention is not Heart's first run-in with regulators. In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Heart and three entities he controlled — Hex, PulseChain and PulseX — with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion.

The SEC 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."

A federal judge dismissed the complaint in February 2025 for lack of jurisdiction, finding that Heart's activities were not clearly aimed at U.S. investors. The SEC declined to amend the complaint by an April deadline, ending the case. Heart's lawyer called the outcome "a complete victory."

Why was Heart in Turkey?

Heart launched Hex in 2018 and marketed the token as a high-yield "blockchain certificate of deposit." Istanbul, where police tracked his residence, had served as his base while the U.S. case ran its course.

The seized equipment — twelve phones, multiple laptops and graphics cards — suggests ongoing operational activity, though Turkish reports did not specify any charges under Turkish law.

What happens next?

It remains unclear whether Finland has formally requested Heart's extradition from Turkey. Turkish prosecutors must now decide whether to transfer him to Finnish custody or extend detention pending proceedings, a process that could take weeks given the scale of the seizure and the cross-border charge.