Interpol Issues Red Notice for Richard Heart

Interpol, the world's largest international police organization, has issued a Red Notice to its member countries on behalf of Finland for Richard James Schueler, better known in crypto circles as Richard Heart, the founder of Hex and PulseChain.

A Red Notice is a formal alert to Interpol's member countries indicating that a valid national arrest warrant has been issued for a specific individual. This notice can often trigger extradition proceedings if the wanted person is detained in another country.

In this case, Finland has issued an arrest warrant for Schueler on charges of fraud amounting to "hundreds of millions of euros" and assault related to an incident involving a 16-year-old, according to a website maintained by Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, which lists its most wanted criminals, including Schueler.

According to the Europol site, "Schueler failed to file business tax returns for multiple years and did not complete the income information on his pre-filled personal tax returns. The total amount of tax avoided is estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros." Additionally, he faces charges of assault for allegedly attacking a 16-year-old by "grabbing their hair, dragging them into the stairwell, and knocking them to the ground" before "punching them 4-5 times in the face, nose, eyes and head area," resulting in pain, bleeding, and swelling.

Reports of Finnish police seeking Schueler first emerged in September of this year. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed a separate lawsuit against him for allegedly selling unregistered securities through his crypto projects. Schueler was added to Europol's list on December 18, likely marking the initial issuance of the Red Notice.

Recently, Schueler made a cryptic post on X that appeared to reference news of the Red Notice; however, The Block could not reach him for comment. In his post, he stated, "My whole life I've been preparing for the future. Anticipating it. Creating it. I've never been safer and I'm excited for the future. The Honorable Justice in SEC v me should have her ruling out soon. Donald Trump will be in office soon. PulseX, PulseChain, HEX, INC are all functioning wonderfully. This makes some entities mad, but there's literally nothing they can do about it except be mad."

He concluded with, "It feels great to be wanted. Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come."