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The FBI arrested the CEO of the AriseBank cryptocurrency platform after he was charged with an alleged multi-million dollar scam.
The news was announced Wednesday by the US District Attorney's Office of the North Texas District, which states that Jared Rice Sr, 30, has cheated hundreds of investors over $ 4 million and that he has now been charged with fraud three counts of wire fraud.
Rice allegedly lied to potential investors, claiming that the company, which he described as "the first decentralized banking platform," would offer FDIC-insured bank accounts and Visa-related debit and credit cards in more cryptography services based on its own AriseCoin token. .
However, in reality, AriseBank was not licensed to do banking in Texas, was not insured by the FDIC and had no partnership with Visa, according to the Department of Justice.
Rice is also accused of lying on the lifting of "600 million dollars in the next few weeks" thanks to an initial offer of coins (ICO). In addition, he spent the money of investors for his personal use in hotels, food and clothing, etc.
After the creation of the company, he started promoting AriseBank and AriseCoin around June 2017 through press releases, public interviews, social media and his own websites, according to a court document not disclosed Wednesday.
If convicted, Rice faces up to 120 years in prison in a federal prison, the prosecutor's office said.
Erin Nealy Cox, the US District Attorney for North Texas, said:
"My office is committed to enforcing the law in the cryptocurrency space. The North District of Texas will not tolerate this kind of blatant disappointment – online or offline. "
In January, Rice was also pursued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with its co-founder, Stanley Ford, for alleged fraud and issuance of non-registered securities during an ICO. The Texas Banking Department published AriseBank a cease and desist order in the same month.
A February SEC complaint further indicates that Rice is on probation under a plea agreement arising out of a 2015 indictment of Collin County, Texas, for theft and alteration of government records. He is also charged with badault in Dallas County, Texas for a crime, after which he allegedly destroyed evidence by stealing the victim's phone and removing an audio recording of the incident.
Image of the FBI agent via Shutterstock
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