The court sentenced Jared Rice, founder of the AriseBank cryptocurrency project, to five years in prison. He was found guilty of orchestrating a $4.25 million fraud scheme.
He was also ordered to reimburse investors’ funds. He marketed AriseBank as ‘the world’s first decentralised banking platform’ and offered clients the opportunity to purchase its native token, AriseCoin.
He was arrested in 2018. Authorities accused him of knowingly defrauding investors, wire fraud, and unregistered securities violations. He faced up to 120 years in prison.
Rice pleaded guilty to a single count. He knowingly misled customers by asserting that AriseBank offered banking services and accounts insured by the FDIC, as well as services built on its own cryptocurrency. He also claimed that his company partnered with major players such as Visa.
Rice spent investors’ funds on personal purposes, including purchases, legal services, hotels and business trips.
Earlier in July, a U.S. court sentenced a Swedish citizen to 15 years in prison for cryptocurrency fraud.
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