SEC drops securities fraud case against Hex founder Richard Heart

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has formally ended its legal battle with Hex founder Richard Schueler, widely known as Richard Heart. 

In a letter to New York District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon, which Heart shared on X, the SEC stated that it “does not intend to file an amended complaint,” thereby allowing the earlier court dismissal to stand.

As previously covered on crypto.news, the SEC had sued Heart in July 2023, accusing him of raising over $1 billion through unregistered securities offerings tied to his crypto projects, Hex (HEX), PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX).

Heart was also accused of using investor funds for personal luxury purchases, including high-end watches and cars, while he promoted his project tokens as paths to “grandiose wealth.”

The case took a turn in February when district court Judge Amon tossed the complaint, saying the SEC could not prove that Heart’s actions specifically targeted U.S. investors. While the regulator was given time to amend and refile, it has now chosen to walk away from the case altogether.

The commission’s decision comes as no surprise, as the SEC, under the new Trump administration, has dropped several high-profile cases against crypto firms, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Consensys. Since former chair Gary Gensler’s departure in January, the agency has steadily scaled back its litigation efforts targeting the crypto sector.

Heart celebrated the dismissal, claiming that HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX had “defeated the SEC completely” and gained a level of “regulatory clarity that nearly no other coins have.”

“This is a victory for open-source software, cryptocurrency, and free speech,” he said, adding that the case “would have set a terrible precedent and caused perhaps multiple billions of dollars of damage to the vital open source and free software industry that powers most of the Internet.”

But while Heart may be off the SEC’s radar, he’s still on Interpol’s. He was added to the agency’s Red Notice list in December 2024, with Finnish authorities seeking his arrest over tax evasion charges spanning nearly four years, and an assault allegation involving a 16-year-old.

As of press time, the Red Notice remains active, and Heart’s name still appears on Europe’s most wanted list.