Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek confirmed on Saturday that Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart was detained in Istanbul, and said police seized $7.15 million in cash and six cold wallets in related searches.
Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained with his wife on Wednesday in an operation in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district, Gürlek said in a post on X. Police later detained three more people who they determined were working as Heart's bodyguards.
Istanbul's chief prosecutor's office ran the operation with the city police's intelligence and financial crimes units, supported by Turkey's intelligence agency, MİT.
Searches at 15 addresses in the Beşiktaş, Üsküdar and Sarıyer districts also turned up 160,000 Turkish lira, 28 watches, 97 pieces of jewelry, 300 bags and 19 graphics cards, according to Gürlek. Police also seized four long-barreled rifles, three unlicensed pistols and 1,400 rounds of ammunition. Gürlek said judicial proceedings and examination of the seized materials are ongoing.
State news agency Anadolu separately reported that police impounded nine vehicles registered to Heart's wife. Turkish media reports on Wednesday had put the cash seized at $4 million and the number of luxury watches at 64.
Hex, the Ethereum-based token Heart launched in 2019, fell about 14% over the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data.
Heart's Red Notice
Gürlek linked Heart's Red Notice to allegations of $1 billion in crypto fraud in the U.S. and Finland. The notice was issued in December 2024 on behalf of Finland, where authorities sought him on suspicion of gross tax evasion and assault.
In the U.S., a federal judge dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Heart in February 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the agency declined to refile it that April. Gürlek did not say whether Turkey has received an extradition request.
The Block has reached out to the Helsinki Police Department and David Kirk, Heart's attorney in the SEC case, for comment.