Richard Heart, a serial entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, has won a victory over legal battles, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dismissing all claims against him.
The ruling came after the SEC filed suit in July 2023, accusing Heart of raising more than $1 billion through unregistered offerings and spending millions on personal luxuries.
Also, Heart’s open-source crypto products, which include HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX, were named as codefendants by the SEC, as they alleged that they were Heart’s “alter egos.”
Richard Heart Wins Case Against SEC
However, a recent release reveals that Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has rejected the SEC’s arguments in full, ruling that the agency lacked jurisdiction and the offerings were globally accessible but not specifically targeted at the United States.
Furthermore, the court did not find any substantial connection to domestic securities transactions, stating that the tokens were not sold on U.S. exchanges and that the SEC failed to show any direct marketing to U.S. investors.
On February 28, 2025, Richard Heart was granted the dismissal motion by the U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon. The court dismissed the SEC’s fraud claims in full, finding the agency had failed to demonstrate that any investor communications were misleading or that the alleged misuse of funds occurred within U.S. jurisdiction.
While the court gave the SEC until April 21 to amend its complaint and ultimately announced “it does not intend to file an amended complaint in this matter,” the SEC later confirmed it does not intend to amend or refile its complaint. As such, it has allowed the dismissal to stand and formally closed the case without finding any wrongdoing.
Notably, these events are evident in Heart and its blockchain products, HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX, of allegations that they constituted unregistered securities, and also dismiss claims that Heart misused investor funds.
X users showed support for Richard Heart’s victory following the rulings on Monday. One of the comments reads;
“Richard Heart, PulseChain, PulseX, and HEX have routed the SEC and have achieved regulatory clarity that nearly no other coins have. They’re now safer to work with in ways that almost no other coins are. …this is the only case where the SEC lost and crypto won across the board, with a dismissal in court of every single claim the SEC brought.”
Also, legal analysts shared their views on the ruling, as some consider it a decisive blow to the SEC’s expansive crypto enforcement strategy, one that is increasingly criticized for regulatory overreach and has been repeatedly rebuked by courts as arbitrary and capricious.
While Heart has always maintained that his products fully comply with the law, the court’s latest ruling has made it official, marking a landmark win for cryptocurrency, open-source innovation, and free speech.