Richard Heart Arrested in Istanbul? What We Know About the HEX Founder's Detention

What happened

Early on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Istanbul police and Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) carried out an operation in the city's Beşiktaş district, coordinated by the Istanbul prosecutor's office. According to the Turkish news agency IHA, as quoted by Daily Sabah, and to reports in Sözcü, Haberler and other outlets, the man detained was Richard James Schueler, better known in crypto as Richard Heart, the founder of HEX, PulseChain and PulseX. Turkish papers call him "Whale James" (Balina James). Daily Sabah says his wife was detained along with him.

Turkish press reports say police had been closely watching the address for some time. The Turkish coverage describes a police detention (gözaltı), not a court-ordered arrest. Yeni Şafak reports that after questioning, Heart was taken to court under heavy security, but the outcome of that hearing is not yet known.

The big caveat: nobody has officially confirmed the detention. The Istanbul prosecutor's office, Turkey's Interior Ministry, Interpol and the Finnish police have made no public statements. The Block asked Istanbul police and Interpol for confirmation and got no reply. Heart himself, his lawyers and the PulseChain team are silent as well.

What was seized: the numbers don't match

No official inventory of the seized items has been published, so outlets are repeating different versions.

A few things show up in every version: weapons, phones, laptops, graphics cards and jewelry. The Block compared the watches in the Turkish reports with a collection of 32 watches that Heart showed off in a 2022 video and valued at $10 million.

What's happening with HEX and PLS

HEX launched as a "blockchain certificate of deposit" with promised staking yields of up to 38% a year. According to the SEC, its offering between December 2019 and November 2020 raised more than 2.3 million ETH. PulseChain is a fork of Ethereum with its own coin, PLS; the network went live in May 2023.

The news hit every one of Heart's tokens. CoinGecko data for the evening of October 14:

• HEX on Ethereum — down 27% in 24 hours, at about $0.00066, 99.9% below its 2021 high;
• PLS — down 40% in 24 hours, 99.7% below its all-time high;
• PLSX — down 27% in 24 hours.

Different outlets quote different drops, from 25% to about 45%: HEX exists in two versions, on Ethereum and on PulseChain, and prices were checked at different times. The takeaway is the same either way: projects tied to one person lose value together with that person's reputation. If you've decided to get out of tokens like these, you can do it without an exchange account: a no-registration crypto exchange converts your ether into other coins and sends them straight to your wallet.

Why Finland wants him

Heart has been wanted on an Interpol Red Notice issued at Finland's request since December 2024. The notice lists a single offense: aggravated tax fraud. A Red Notice isn't an arrest warrant; it's a request to police in other countries to locate a person and provisionally detain them.

Yle published details of the Finnish case in September 2024, when the Helsinki District Court ordered Heart's detention in absentia. He is suspected of evading taxes between June 2020 and April 2024, in an amount the police described as "hundreds of millions of euros." Finland is also seeking him over an alleged assault on a 16-year-old in February 2021, but according to Decrypt, the Red Notice mentions only the tax charge.

Whether Heart gets extradited to Finland is up to Turkey: a Red Notice doesn't oblige it to hand him over. No extradition request has been made public so far.

What about the SEC?

Turkish media write that the US SEC accuses Heart of embezzling $1.5 billion. That's not accurate. The SEC did sue in July 2023: it argued that HEX, PulseChain and PulseX were unregistered securities offerings that raised more than a billion dollars, and accused Heart of spending at least $12 million of the proceeds on sports cars, watches and a 555-carat black diamond.

In February 2025, however, the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the projects were not clearly aimed at US investors. The court never ruled on whether the tokens are securities. In April 2025, the SEC declined to file an amended complaint, and the case was closed. The current detention has nothing to do with it.

Coins that don't depend on one person

HEX and PulseChain have a face, and when that face gets into legal trouble, holders pay the price alongside him. Bitcoin has no such face: its creator vanished back in 2011, and the network's rules are set by node consensus, not by a founder. Many holders of tokens tied to a single figure are now thinking about moving into coins with broader support. This isn't investment advice, just a description of how people reduce this kind of risk.

If part of your funds is already in ether, you can make the move without an exchange or an account: you enter your wallet address, see the rate up front and receive the coins straight to your own address. For example, you can swap ETH to BTC or, if you just want dollars with no extra steps, exchange ETH for USDT TRC20.

How to swap ETH for BTC on VertEXchange without an account

VertEXchange doesn't ask for your email, phone number or ID: a swap is a single operation, after which the coins sit in your wallet, not on someone else's balance sheet. You keep the keys to your coins, and nobody's fate, whether a project founder's or a platform owner's, decides whether you get your money. For a detailed explanation, see our article on how a custodial wallet differs from a non-custodial one.

• You see the rate and the amount you'll receive before you send anything; a fixed rate is held for about 15 minutes.
• Coins arrive directly at your address; the service doesn't hold them.
• If a swap doesn't go through, your coins are returned to your refund address.
• Personal fields of an operation are deleted 24 hours after it completes.
• Support chat is available on every page, by your exchange code.

If privacy matters to you, you can also exchange bitcoin for Monero with the payout sent to your XMR address.

FAQ

Has Richard Heart been arrested?

According to Turkish media, yes: on October 14, 2026, in Istanbul, on an Interpol Red Notice. Neither the Turkish authorities, Finland nor Heart himself has officially confirmed it yet.

Why is Richard Heart wanted?

Finland suspects him of aggravated tax fraud worth hundreds of millions of euros, covering 2020–2024. He is also sought separately over an alleged assault in 2021. The Interpol Red Notice was issued in December 2024.

Will he be extradited to Finland?

Unknown. The decision is Turkey's, and a Red Notice doesn't oblige it to extradite. No extradition request has been made public so far.

Is the detention related to the SEC case?

No. A court dismissed the SEC's lawsuit against Heart, HEX and PulseChain in February 2025 for lack of jurisdiction, and in April 2025 the SEC dropped it for good.

What will happen to HEX and PLS?

We won't predict prices. On October 14, HEX fell about 27% and PLS about 40%. The networks run on their own, but news about the founder hits the price of his tokens directly.

How do I exchange ETH for BTC without registration?

Enter your bitcoin wallet address, check the rate and the amount you'll receive, and send ether to the exchange address. The bitcoin goes straight to your address, with no account, email or ID.