Jared Rice Sr., former CEO of cryptocurrency scam AriseBank, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, news outlet Dallas News reported on March 21.
Rice, whom the FBI arrested last year, confessed to scamming investors out of $4.2 million through the sale of AriseCoin tokens, and falsely promising that investors would receive “FDIC-insured accounts and traditional banking services, including Visa-brand credit and debit cards, in addition to cryptocurrency services.”
As per the report, Rice specifically entered a guilty plea for one count of securities fraud, incriminating him in lying to AriseBank investors, while it was operating. While Rice is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years, a $5,000,000 fine, restitution and forfeiture, his plea agreement shows that he and the U.S. government agree on him spending 60 months in prison.
Rice was arrested by the FBI last November, after he was charged with three counts of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas. In December, he and former COO of AriseBank, Stanley Ford, settled a civil charge with the SEC, paying $2.7 million in fines for fraudulent initial coin offerings operated by AriseBank.
At the time, both Rice and Ford agreed to lifetime bans from participating in digital securities offerings, as well as serving as directors or officers of companies, though they neither denied or admitted to the SEC’s charges.