Stacy Pereira
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arrested Ildar Ilham, the founder of decentralized finance platform WhiteRock, in connection with a high-stakes $30 million fraud tied to the collapsed gambling project ZKasino. Prompted by a Red Notice from Interpol, UAE officials notified Dutch prosecutors that Ilham is expected to be extradited to the Netherlands to face formal charges.
ZKasino, launched in April 2024, attracting significant investor funds, as it promised token airdrops, but never delivered. This left many investors getting no shares or investment returns. This came to light when on-chain investigators, including crypto researcher ZachXBT, traced blockchain transactions linking WhiteRock’s wallets and marketing accounts to diverted ZKasino funds. There was enough reason to believe that there was a deep financial entanglement between the two schemes.
While no fresh criminal evidence has been presented by Emirati authorities, the admitted transfer of funds on blockchain has been enough to initiate legal action and disrupt the token’s market standing . The coming extradition process will transfer the 21-year old founder to Dutch custody, where he is expected to face charges of fraud, embezzlement, and operating an exit scam.
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A finance report showed that after Ilham’s arrest, the value of WhiteRock’s native token, WHITE, dropped between 25% and 40%, as the market reacted swiftly to the mounting allegations. Crypto communities and analysts are now calling on major exchanges like MEXC and Gate.io to delist the token amidst these serious concerns.
WHITE, which debuted with a $30 million market cap, surged to $2 billion by June but has since dropped to a current valuation of $490 million.
