The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced to settle with the founders of AriseBank. That company was closed down last January, after raising $600 million during a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). So now there is a settlement with the people behind the company and the US market regulator, the SEC.
Former CEO Jared Rice Sr. And COO Stanley Ford was accused of offering and selling unregistered investments in the form of AriseCoin, a crypt currency linked to the AriseBank. The company then claimed that it sold the tokens to launch the first and large crypt-currency banking platform worldwide.
ICO discontinued
But the SEC stated at the time that the ICO could no longer go ahead, because AriseBank had falsely claimed to have taken over an FDIC-insured bank. This bank in turn would have served as a basis for offering customers an insured account. But that turned out to be wrong. That’s why the SEC closed the ICO before it was completed.
Both Rice and Ford were therefore indicted and eventually reached a settlement with the SEC. The duo have to pay almost $2.7 million and are no longer allowed to work as a director or board member of a public company. Nor are they allowed to participate in future ICOs or digital securities. This settlement marks the end of an almost year-long trial by the SEC against Rice and Ford.
Strikingly enough, it is not exactly the biggest false claim around an ICO. This illustrious honour falls to the Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services. The company claimed to have business ties with the Federal Reserve and dozens of well-known companies, including PayPal, Boeing and Walt Disney Co. The SEC put a stop to this last May.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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