A United States federal court has ordered two executives from crypto firm AriseBank to pay nearly $2.7 million in fines, according to a U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) announcement Dec. 12. The ruling follows an investigation by the SEC, which found that AriseBank was operating a fraudulent Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
AriseBank CEO Jared Rice was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Nov. 28 on charges of defrauding hundreds of investors of over $4 million. Rice allegedly falsely claimed that the bank could offer customers “FDIC-insured accounts and traditional banking services, including Visa (NYSE:V)-brand credit and debit cards, in addition to cryptocurrency services.”