The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today, that it will no longer take legal action against Richard Heart, the founder of Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX.
According to SEC lawyer Matthew Gulde, the agency told the New York District Court that it would not file a new version of the complaint after the original case was dismissed earlier.
The SEC had first charged Heart in July 2023, accusing him of illegally selling unregistered crypto investments through his projects: HEX, PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX). The agency said he raised more than $1 billion by promoting these tokens as a way to get rich quickly.
However, on February 28, the court dismissed the case because it ruled that Heart’s activities were not directly aimed at U.S. investors. That meant the court didn’t have the legal authority to move forward with the case.
Heart celebrated the news on social media, saying that he and his projects had “completely defeated the SEC.” He also claimed this result gave a level of legal clarity that most crypto projects don’t have.
Despite the win in the U.S., Heart still faces legal trouble in Europe. As of April 2025, there is an active Interpol Red Notice against him. This was requested by Finnish authorities in December 2024, who want him arrested for suspected tax fraud and assault. He is accused of not paying taxes between June 2020 and April 2024, according to cryptorank.io.
