Turkey's Justice Minister Akın Gürlek confirmed that Richard Heart (real name Richard James Schueler), founder of the HEX and PulseChain projects, was detained in accordance with an Interpol red notice. The operation took place on October 14 in Istanbul.
In addition to the entrepreneur himself, law enforcement detained his wife and three other individuals who are believed to have served as his bodyguards.
During searches at 15 addresses, $7.15 million in cash, 160,000 Turkish lira and six hardware crypto wallets were seized. Jewelry, watches, bags, shoes, electronics, four long-barreled rifles, three unregistered pistols and 1,400 rounds of ammunition were also found.
Heart is suspected of involvement in cryptocurrency fraud totaling $1 billion in the United States and Finland.