Turkey says $7.15M in cash seized in Richard Heart arrest
Turkey's justice minister confirmed Hex founder Richard Heart's Istanbul arrest and listed seizures: $7.15M in cash, six cold wallets, guns and luxury goods.
CryptoGroup Newsroom · · 3 min read
Turkey's Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has officially confirmed the arrest of Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart in Istanbul and published a detailed list of what police seized — including $7.15 million and 160,000 Turkish lira in cash and six cold crypto wallets. The figures, posted by Gürlek on X on 17 October and reported by CNN Türk, are well above the roughly $4 million first cited by local media when news of the arrest broke.
What the minister said
- Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, is described as a U.S. citizen sought under an Interpol Red Notice over allegations of a $1 billion crypto-asset fraud in the United States and Finland.
- He and his wife were detained in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district on 14 October. Three people identified as his bodyguards were detained later.
- The operation was coordinated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and carried out by police intelligence and financial-crimes units, with support from Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
- Searches covered 15 addresses in the Beşiktaş, Üsküdar and Sarıyer districts.
The seizure list
- Cash: $7.15 million and 160,000 lira; 6 cold wallets.
- Luxury goods: 300 bags, 100 pairs of shoes, 136 pairs of glasses, 28 watches and 97 pieces of jewellery.
- Devices: 29 phones, 12 laptops, 11 computer cases, 19 SSDs or external drives, 46 USB sticks and 19 graphics cards.
- Weapons: 4 long-barrelled rifles, 3 unlicensed handguns and 1,400 rounds of ammunition.
Gürlek said legal proceedings and the examination of the seized material are continuing, and that Turkey will not let itself be seen as a safe haven for people fleeing justice.
Key moments
2023
SEC lawsuit
The SEC sues Heart and three projects over alleged unregistered offerings that raised more than $1 billion.
2025
Case dismissed
A U.S. judge throws out the SEC complaint for lack of jurisdiction, and the agency drops the case.
14 Oct 2026
Detained in Istanbul
Heart and his wife are taken into custody in Beşiktaş.
17 Oct 2026
Official inventory
Turkey's justice minister confirms the arrest and lists $7.15 million in cash among the seizures.
What's next
It is still unclear which U.S. proceedings, if any, the Red Notice refers to — the SEC's civil case ended in 2025 — and earlier reports linked it to Finnish allegations of tax fraud and assault. No court ruling or extradition request had been made public, and we found no public comment from Heart or his lawyers at the time of writing.
The seized "cold wallets" are offline crypto storage devices — the kind described in our explainer on what a hardware wallet is. Founders' legal troubles often trigger copycat "recovery" schemes aimed at token holders; our guide on how to spot crypto scams explains what to avoid.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Crypto assets are volatile; do your own research. Read our disclaimer
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