There were always signs that Richard Heart would become a fugitive

Protos’ story examines how long‑running red flags around Richard Heart – the founder of Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX – preceded his current status as an international fugitive wanted in Europe for alleged tax crimes and assault. Richard Heart (legal name Richard Schueler) built a large online following as a flamboyant crypto promoter who launched Hex in 2019 and later PulseChain and PulseX, projects that collectively raised more than $1 billion in crypto according to a 2023 U.S. SEC complaint. That complaint accused him and his projects of conducting unregistered securities offerings and misappropriating at least $12 million of investor funds for luxury spending, including high‑end cars, watches, and a 555‑carat black diamond. In early 2025, however, a U.S. federal judge dismissed the SEC’s case on jurisdictional grounds and the agency chose not to amend it, which effectively ended the U.S. civil action and was characterized by his counsel as a complete legal victory in that venue. While the SEC case collapsed, European criminal investigations escalated. Finnish and broader EU authorities accuse Heart of aggravated tax fraud involving large sums between 2020 and 2024 and of an assault incident in Finland, and they obtained both a domestic remand order and an Interpol Red Notice seeking his location and provisional arrest. Interpol’s notice, together with his appearance on Europol’s “Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives” list, means he is now treated as a high‑priority target by European law enforcement, even though a Red Notice is not itself an international arrest warrant. Protos situates these developments against Heart’s long‑documented pattern of aggressive self‑promotion, contentious regulatory posture, and flashy displays of wealth, arguing that these characteristics, combined with ongoing investigations, were early indications that his legal exposure could eventually escalate into fugitive status.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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