According to Turkish media, on Wednesday morning in Istanbul, police and intelligence detained Richard Heart, the founder of the HEX cryptocurrency. The Block asked Istanbul Police and Interpol for confirmation and had not received a response by publication. The HEX price dropped by about a quarter in 24 hours.
- Turkish media reported that on the morning of Wednesday, October 14, police detained Richard Heart and his wife in Istanbul. The police and Interpol did not respond to The Block.
- Finland applied for an Interpol red notice in 2024 for serious tax fraud. The note is not an international arrest warrant.
- HEX fell by 25 to 30 percent overnight, and its capitalization decreased by approximately $160 million, according to Cointelegraph.
- A US court dismissed the SEC’s lawsuit against Heart in February 2025 on jurisdictional grounds. The Finnish case is separate.
Reports vary as to what was taken. The Block reports about $4 million in cash and 64 luxury watches. Decrypt writes about cash in several currencies, jewelry, weapons and drones. The total is not given. None of the sources cited Heart or his spokesman regarding the arrest.
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The note does not determine guilt or the release of Heart to Finland. If Finland wanted to try him, it would have to request extradition from Turkey, which is a separate procedure. The Finnish investigating office declined to comment. Sources do not say whether the Finnish allegation has any connection with HEX’s operation.
The SEC lost in the US, but Finland was a different story
In February 2025, Judge Carol Bagley Amon dismissed the lawsuit filed by the SEC, the American stock exchange supervisory commission. The commission accused Heart of unregistered token sales, which were supposed to bring in over $1 billion, and misappropriating at least $12 million for luxury purchases. The judge found that the SEC had not demonstrated a sufficient connection of the case with the United States. The court therefore decided on its jurisdiction, not on the truthfulness of the allegations.
The SEC did not correct the complaint and the case ended. According to Benzinga, a Heart spokesperson welcomed the ruling as a relief and an opportunity for all cryptocurrencies. The Finnish case is pending separately.
A quarter of its value in one day
HEX costs a fraction of a cent. That’s more than 99 percent below the 2021 peak. Cointelegraph attributes the decline to reports of detention.
What to do with HEX and PLS after this stop
Retaining the founder doesn’t change who has the keys to your wallet. If the tokens are on the exchange, the exchange decides on the payouts. Check if it has announced any changes.
It is also not known whether Finland has already applied for the release of Heart.
