The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Richard Schueler, also known as Richard Hart in the cryptocurrency community, alleging that he issued three tokens without proper registration. The SEC's filing, submitted on July 31 to the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, claims that Hart raised over $1 billion through unregistered crypto asset securities offerings and sales. The tokens involved in the lawsuit are Hex, PulseChain (PLS), and PulseX (PSLX). The SEC accuses Hart of violence ing federal securities laws and defrauding retail investors in the US and abroad.
The complaint focuses on Hex founders promising significant returns to investors in exchange for large sums of money. For instance, Hart reportedly accepted more than 2.3 million Ether, valued at around $678 million at the time, in exchange for Hex tokens. received $354 million for future deliveries of PLS tokens and $676 million for future deliveries of PSLX tokens. The SEC claims that Hart and PulseChain misappropriated at least $12.1 million of PulseChain investor funds for personal luxury items like a 555-carat diamond , expensive watches, and luxury cars instead of developing and marketing the PulseChain network.
US regulators are seeking permanent injunctive relief, restitution of disgorgement, prejudice interest, and civil penalties against Hart and the program. Hart, who resides in Finland, has been served with a civil subpoena and has 21 days to respond to the SEC complaint or risk a default judgment.
The SEC's civil lawsuit is part of the ongoing regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry in the United States, with similar actions taken against cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Many in the cryptocurrency community have been skeptical of Hex, despite its price rallies in the past Following the news of the SEC lawsuit, the price of Hex dropped more than 26%. After the SEC review, it has been observed that Hart appears to be removing references to Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX from his social media profiles.
Please note that the provided text contains a quote attributed to Richard Hart's X (formerly Twitter) bio, but there is no official verification of its authenticity.
