ICO Scam: AriseBank and its Founders to Refund Investors $2.7 Million

[PRIBO247]

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) has
won a prolonged court battle against the AriseBank blockchain
project which organized a fraudulent initial coin offering ( ICO ) that
claimed to had raised $600 million from investors last year. Now,
authorities have ordered the founders of the project to pay
investors a total of $2.7 million, reported Dallas News on
December 13, 2018.

End of the Road
Per sources close to the matter, it is the end of the road for
AriseBank, and its founders as the long arm of the law have finally
caught up with them after a lengthy court battle that started since
January 2018.
During the ICO craze of 2017, CEO of the now-defunct AriseBank,
Jared Rice, collaborated with COO, Stanley Ford, and others to
organize a hugely successful crypto-based fundraiser which
promised investors FDIC accounts, brand-name credit cards and
more.
Notably, on January 18, 2018, AriseCoin announced it had
successfully acquired two “traditional,” federally backed financial
institutions, in a bid to become the first decentralized
cryptocurrency bank.
“Having a digital asset bank being able to acquire a traditional
bank will go into the history books as a first-of-its-kind event in
banking history. This purchase indicates that the hierarchy of
traditional banking is moving due to more demand by consumers
for more freedom and transparency,” declared Jared Rice at the
time.

The Crackdown
On January 25, 2018, after obtaining an emergency court order
from the Dallas federal court, the SEC halted the sale of AriseCoin,
labeling it an illegal securities offering.

“Attempting to conceal what we allege to be fraudulent securities
offerings under the veneer of technological terms like ICO or
cryptocurrency will not escape the commission’s oversight or its
efforts to protect investors,” stated Shamoil T. Shipchandler.
Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office at the time.
As reported by BTCManager , on November 30, 2018, the FBI
arrested the AriseBank CEO and Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for
the Northern District of Texas slapped him with a six-count charge
relating to securities fraud and wire fraud. Now, Rice and Ford
have reportedly agreed to repay investors $2,259,543 plus interest
of $68,423 and $184,767 each, as penalties.

That’s not all; the duo has also been banned for life, from
functioning as officers and directors of public firms or organizing
securities offerings.

Source: https://btcmanager.com/