Hex And PulseChain Founder Richard Heart In Hot Water With Finnish Authorities

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Julia Smith

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Julia Smith

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Julia is an experienced editor with a passion for covering a wide variety of beats. She loves all things politics and regularly covers regulatory updates on emerging technology here for Crypto News.

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September 18, 2024

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Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Schueler (also known as Richard Heart) is officially wanted by Finnish authorities on gross tax evasion and assault charges, according to a new report by Finnish media outlet Yle.

Richard Heart (A.K.A Richard Schueler) Wanted In Finland

The September 17 report alleges that Heart, a Helsinki resident, owes hundreds of millions of euros in taxes to Finland’s government.

“Based on the very considerable amount of money in question and the long-term and planned nature of the activity, there are grounds to suspect gross tax evasion,” Harri Saaristola, a police detective with the city of Helsinki, told Yle.

According to Saaristola, Finland’s Tax Administration projected estimations did not match Heart’s reported tax returns from mid-2020 to April 2024.

Finnish authorities believe that Heart ran his international cryptocurrency ventures out of Finland and that his income amounted to over 15.2 million euros in 2023. However, the tax evasion charges appear to be unrelated to that amount.

Saaristola did not elaborate on the suspected crypto scammer’s assault charge, though he did note it stemmed from a February 2021 incident.

Hex And PulseChain Scandal Explained

In addition to the novel Nordic charges, Heart is facing a hefty lawsuit brought forward by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for orchestrating the Hex and PulseChain scandal.

According to federal prosecutors, the crypto developer raised over $1 billion in unregistered securities offerings and misappropriated millions of dollars worth of customer funds.

“Instead of using these investor funds to develop and market the PulseChain network, or even to fulfill Heart’s explicit statement that invested funds supported ‘freedom of speech,’ Heart and PulseChain used at least $12.1 million of investor funds for Heart’s personal luxury purchases,” the SEC complaint reads in part.

According to the federal agency, Heart purchased several luxury automobiles with investors’ money, including a Ferrari and McLaren sports car and numerous designer watches.

The supposed crypto scam artist further defrauded investors and bought the world’s largest black diamond, a 555-carat piece known as “The Enigma,” valued at over $4 million, from Sotheby’s in February 2022.

“Heart called on investors to buy crypto asset securities in offerings that he failed to register. He then defrauded those investors by spending some of their crypto assets on exorbitant luxury goods,” Eric Werner, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, said in a July 2023 statement. “This action seeks to protect the investing public and hold Heart accountable for his actions.”

Heart has since moved to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit altogether.