A man was detained by Dutch authorities on suspicion of being a part of the online gambling platform ZKasino fraud.
The 26-year-old was taken into custody by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) on April 29. He is suspected of money laundering, embezzlement, and fraud.
According to a May 3 report by FIOD, the Dutch authorities seized cryptocurrency, real estate, and luxury cars valued at over 11.4 million euros ($12.2 million).
In the ZKasino fraud case, investors lost at least $33 million in digital assets; this is the first arrest in the investigation. Users were initially guaranteed a 30-day return on their investment by the company. Dutch officials claim that the smart contract indicates the site never intended to repay the monies.
Although the identity of the culprit is still unknown, some members of the X cryptocurrency community have speculated that it might be the anonymous X user Derivatives Monke. Well-known cryptocurrency expert FatMan stated in a May 3 X post:
“The press release indicates a 26-year-old, and Derivatives Monke was confirmed to be a 26-year-old Dutch citizen, so the person currently in police custody is almost definitely @Derivatives_Ape himself.”
ZKasino: From exit scam to investment
When ZKasino first launched, it advertised itself as a new blockchain-based gaming site that accepted deposits from investors and offered profits in as little as one month. After the site went online on April 20, more than 10,000 investors contributed over 10,515 Ether ETH.
On April 20, investor anxiety increased when it was revealed through an on-chain transaction that ZKasino had transferred all 10,515 ETH to the Lido staking protocol.
Additionally, users saw that it had altered the language on its website, eliminating the clause stating that the ETH “would be returned.”
Adding gasoline to the fire, ZKasino stated in a March X post that it had secured a $350 million Series A financing round with support from venture capital company Big Brain Holdings and cryptocurrency exchange MEXC, among others.
After receiving an offer from the platform for a pro-rata token distribution, Big Brain Holdings later stated that it had not invested in ZKasino, “which appears to be fraudulent”.
May 2024, Cryptoniteuae
