HEX Founder Richard Heart Detained in Turkey; $7.15M and Cold Wallets Seized

October 21, 2026 MM Crypto Team

Turkish authorities have detained Richard Heart, the founder of HEX, PulseChain and PulseX, in a coordinated operation in Istanbul. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek confirmed the detention on October 17, three days after the October 14 raid. The announcement brought a long-running international legal story back into public view, and it immediately raised questions about what happens next for the person at the centre of the case, for the authorities involved, and for the communities built around the projects he founded. A detention, on its own, is a step in a process rather than an outcome, and the details released so far describe an operation, a set of allegations from other jurisdictions, and a series of examinations that are still under way.

The Operation in Istanbul

The raid was coordinated by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the city’s financial crimes division, and Interpol. Searches across 15 locations in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district — along with Üsküdar and Sarıyer — recovered $7.15 million in US currency, six cold cryptocurrency wallets, 28 watches, 97 pieces of jewelry, 300 designer bags, and dozens of electronic devices. The breadth of the search, spread across several districts, suggests an operation planned around more than one address and more than one category of material, although the published account does not explain how each location related to the wider investigation.

Police also seized four long-barreled rifles, three unlicensed pistols and 1,400 rounds of ammunition. Heart’s wife and three bodyguards were also detained. Judicial proceedings and examination of the seized material are ongoing. Those two points are important because they show that the operation did not end when the searches were completed. Detention can be followed by further questioning, by review of documents and devices, and by decisions taken by prosecutors and courts about what, if anything, follows. Until those steps are described in official updates, the full legal significance of the items recovered will remain unclear, and speculation about their meaning would go beyond the reported facts.

What a Cold Wallet Means in This Context

The mention of six cold cryptocurrency wallets is likely to attract particular attention from crypto readers, and it is worth explaining the general idea without drawing conclusions about the contents of any specific device. In general terms, a cold wallet is a way of holding cryptocurrency away from a continuous internet connection, often on a dedicated device. The appeal of that approach, in general, is that it reduces exposure to online attacks, while the trade-off is that access depends on physical possession of the device and on the credentials needed to use it. For investigators, a seized device therefore raises practical questions about access, examination, and legal authority, but the mere recovery of a device does not by itself establish what it contains or what any contents would prove.

The same caution applies to the other items listed in the operation. Currency, watches, jewelry, designer bags, and electronic devices are all described as recovered material, not as findings of guilt. In investigations involving alleged financial wrongdoing, authorities often seek to preserve a wide range of material that might be relevant, and they may also seek to prevent material from being moved or altered while an examination continues. The published account does not assign a particular role to each category of item, and it does not say that every item is connected to the same allegation. A careful reading therefore treats the list as a record of what was recovered, rather than as an explanation of why each item matters.

Why He Was Wanted

The operation ran on an Interpol Red Notice that Finland requested in December 2024, alleging aggravated tax fraud involving hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes. The minister said Turkey “will not be a refuge for transnational crimes and fugitive suspects.” In general terms, a Red Notice is a request circulated through Interpol asking law enforcement in other countries to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending further legal steps. It is not, by itself, an international arrest warrant in every legal system, and it does not settle the underlying allegation. The next steps, in general, can involve courts, prosecutors, and the authorities of the requesting country, and they depend on the law of the country where the person was detained and on any formal request that follows.

The Earlier United States Case

Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, also faced a 2023 SEC case alleging more than $1 billion in unregistered securities offerings and the misappropriation of at least $12 million into luxury goods — including the 555-carat black diamond known as “The Enigma.” A federal judge dismissed that case in February 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the SEC declined to amend its complaint. That history is relevant because it shows that this is not the first time the founder’s projects and personal spending have been the subject of a high-profile legal claim, but it is equally relevant because of how that earlier case ended.

A dismissal on jurisdictional grounds is different from a decision on the merits of the underlying allegations. In general, jurisdiction concerns whether a particular court has the authority to hear a case, and a dismissal on that basis does not necessarily decide whether the alleged conduct occurred. The decision by the SEC not to amend its complaint closed that particular route at that stage, but it did not turn the allegations into proven facts, and it did not turn the dismissal into a broader clearance of every question that might arise elsewhere. Readers who follow the founder’s projects may therefore see two separate legal threads: an earlier United States case that ended on jurisdictional grounds, and a separate Finnish request that is now the stated basis for the operation in Turkey. Conflating the two would blur the different allegations, authorities, and outcomes involved.

Token Fallout and Founder Risk

Markets repriced founder risk immediately: HEX fell nearly 60%, PulseX dropped 49% and PulseChain’s PLS lost close to 36% in the days after the detention. The reported detention is not a conviction, extradition decision or finding of guilt. The market reaction illustrates a concept that is often discussed in crypto markets, namely founder risk. When a project is closely associated in the public mind with a single founder, news about that founder can affect how holders view the project, even when the news concerns the founder personally rather than the technology or the day-to-day operation of a network. That association can be powerful, because community attention, public communication, and confidence are often concentrated around a well-known figure.

At the same time, a sharp price move after a headline does not by itself answer the longer-term questions that holders and observers may ask. It does not show what will happen to any project, what legal steps will follow, or how a community will respond over time. Price movements in crypto markets can reflect uncertainty, reduced appetite for risk, selling by holders who prefer to step back while facts are unclear, and broader sentiment at the same moment. The figures reported here describe a short period after the detention, and they should be read as a record of that immediate reaction rather than as a prediction about the future value or future of any token. That distinction matters for readers who might otherwise treat a fall in price as a verdict on a legal case, or treat a legal development as a verdict on a token.

What Remains Unresolved

Several important questions remain open in the material available so far. The published account does not describe any extradition decision, and it does not describe a conviction or a finding of guilt. It also does not explain how the examination of seized material will proceed, what further proceedings are planned, or how the detention of the other people named in the operation relates to the wider case. Those gaps are not unusual at an early stage, when authorities may be limited in what they can say while proceedings are ongoing, but they do mean that any attempt to fill in the missing steps would go beyond the reported facts.

Why This Story Matters Beyond One Founder

Beyond the individual case, the story touches on themes that recur in crypto regulation and enforcement. One is the cross-border nature of crypto activity, where a founder, a project, users, and authorities may be spread across different countries, and where a request from one jurisdiction can lead to action in another. Another is the role of public officials in confirming operations that involve intelligence agencies, prosecutors, financial crime units, and Interpol, which signals a level of coordination that goes beyond a routine local action. A third is the relationship between legal news and market sentiment, where a development concerning a founder can move related tokens sharply even before any court has reached a conclusion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was detained in Istanbul?

Richard Heart, the founder of HEX, PulseChain and PulseX, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained in a coordinated operation in Istanbul.

When was the detention confirmed, and when did the raid take place?

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek confirmed the detention on October 17, three days after the October 14 raid.

What was the stated basis for the operation?

The operation ran on an Interpol Red Notice that Finland requested in December 2024, alleging aggravated tax fraud involving hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes.

What happened to the earlier SEC case?

A federal judge dismissed the 2023 SEC case in February 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the SEC declined to amend its complaint.

Does the detention mean Richard Heart has been convicted?

No. The reported detention is not a conviction, extradition decision or finding of guilt, and judicial proceedings and examination of the seized material are ongoing.

Source: KuCoin / Protos / CryptoNews

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