Feds: AriseBank duped investors out of over $4M in cryptocurrency scam

Enlarge / Evander Holyfield's January 2018 promo image for AriseBank. (credit: Evander Holyfield)

Federal prosecutors in Texas announced Wednesday that they have arrested a Dallas-based cryptocurrency CEO on charges of securities and wire fraud, adding that he allegedly defrauded investors to the tune of $4 million.

The entrepreneur, Jared Rice, Sr., 30, claimed to run something called "AriseBank" and its related purported cryptocurrency, AriseCoin. The new criminal charges are on top of a complaint brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2018, around the same time that the Texas Department of Banking issued a related cease-and-desist order to AriseBank.

State and federal authorities got involved in late January 2018, just weeks after boxer Evander Holyfield endorsed the company.

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