HEX founder Richard Heart declares 'SEC lost and crypto won' as regulator drops fraud suit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a letter on Monday notifying the court that it "does not intend" to file an amended complaint to a previous ruling in favor of Hex, PulseChain and PulseX founder Richard Schueler, better known under the pseudonym Richard Heart.

"The SEC walked away from some other cryptocurrency cases voluntarily, but this is the only case where the SEC lost and crypto won across the board," Heart said on social media platform X. 

In July, 2023, the SEC filed the lawsuit against Heart and his three entities for raising over $1 billion from unregistered securities offerings. Heart and PulseChain were further charged with fraud for misappropriating proceeds to purchase luxury goods.

In February, the District Court of Eastern New York dismissed the lawsuit , ruling that the agency failed to present detailed evidence that linked Heart to activities within the United States. "Notably, the [SEC's] Complaint fails to allege that this conduct was directed at the United States; instead, it merely alleges this conduct originated abroad through online activities," the ruling said.

Heart previously argued against the SEC's claims that the agency had not sufficiently proven its jurisdiction over the Finland-based U.S. citizen.

The SEC has now exceeded the court-mandated deadline of April 21 to file an amended complaint, which was previously extended from March 20.

The SEC's voluntary dismissal of the case against Heart is consistent with its withdrawal of enforcement actions against multiple cryptocurrency firms — made in a shift to a less adversarial approach advocated by President Donald Trump.

Wanted in Europe

Still, Heart has had authorities outside of the U.S. pursue him for various charges. Last December, Interpol issued a red notice for Heart on behalf of Finland after the country issued an arrest warrant for fraud and tax evasion charges.

Heart remains on Europol's "Europe's most wanted fugitives" list , where his case is described as an "ongoing investigation" — this description was last updated on December 18, 2024.

The price of the HEX token is up 0.35% in the past 24 hours and up 27% in the last seven days, trading at $0.007518 as of publication time, according to CoinMarketCap data .