Police seize Rolexes worth $2.6m in crypto founder raid

Finnish police have seized $2.6 million worth of luxury watches after raiding a property linked to crypto founder Richard Heart.

Police conducted a search of a home in Espoo, a suburb of Helsinki, where they found around 20 wristwatches in the possession of a bystander, according to a statement from the Finnish police.

The police confirmed to the country’s public broadcaster Yle, which also first reported the story, that the watches belong to Heart.

Criminal Inspector Harri Saaristola, who led the investigation, told Yle that the police were able to track down Heart’s watches through their own intelligence activities.

In addition to the watches, the police also said they had seized millions of euros from a Finnish bank account and froze cryptocurrencies held at a foreign service provider as part of a preliminary investigation into the suspect started in the fall of 2024.

The raid is the latest instance of authorities targeting the crypto founder, who raised billions from investors, for alleged wrongdoing.

Heart, whose legal name is Richard Schueler, is wanted by Finnish authorities on tax fraud and assault charges. In December, Interpol issued a notice that requests his arrest by global law enforcement.

Finnish authorities said they believe Heart has left the country but did not comment on whether they have information about where he is currently located.

The police did not immediately respond to DL News’ request for comment on Heart’s whereabouts.

DL News was unable to reach Heart for comment.

Who is Richard Heart?

Heart, a 45 year-old US national, is one of crypto’s most infamous figures.

He founded a crypto project called Hex in 2018, claiming it was the first high-yield “blockchain certificate of deposit,” and began promoting HEX tokens as an investment designed to make people “rich.”

Heart sold HEX to investors via an ICO, or initial coin offering, raising more than 2.3 million Ether tokens with a current market value of $7.7 billion.

In 2020, ads boasting that the price of the HEX token had risen 11,500% in four months appeared at English Premier League soccer games.

Heart ran similar coin offering schemes in 2021 and 2022 for two additional projects — PulseChain and PulseX.

In July 2023 the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Heart, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion in crypto assets from investors.

According to Saaristola, the suspected crimes in Finland are related to the marketing of the Hex and Pulsechain cryptocurrencies to investors.

Heart’s first token, HEX, is down 99.5% from its all-time high of $0.51 in September 2021.

The Pulsechain and PulseX tokens are down 58% and 80% from their records, respectively.

Expensive tastes

Heart is known for his penchant for luxury brands.

On X, the crypto founder has over the years posted dozens of videos of himself purchasing and wearing luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Gucci.

The majority of the watches seized from Heart by Finnish police were Rolexes, costing over $400,000 each, according to the receipts found with them and an expert’s estimate.

According to the police, the watches were featured in Heart’s YouTube broadcasts.

“By displaying the watches, he was trying to create an impression of wealth around himself. The goal was possibly to convince investors that they too could become wealthy,” Saaristola said in a police statement.

The SEC also charged Heart and PulseChain with fraud for misappropriating at least $12 million raised through crypto sales to purchase luxury goods including sports cars, watches, and a 555-carat black diamond known as ‘The Enigma.’

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.