Whiterock Founder Ildar Ilham Nabbed in $30M ZKasino Scandal – Crypto’s Latest Rug Pull?

Crypto's wild west strikes again. Dutch authorities just cuffed Whiterock Capital founder Ildar Ilham for allegedly orchestrating a $30 million exit scam through gambling platform ZKasino.

The playbook looks familiar: flashy promises, investor funds vanishing faster than a Bitcoin during a bear market, and another 'visionary' founder facing the music.

When will crypto investors learn? If it looks too good to be true in DeFi, it probably is—especially when there's a casino involved. The house always wins, and apparently so do the scammers.

Ildar’s arrest is the latest in connection with the ZKasino scam

Ildar’s arrest comes months after Elham Nourzai, another key figure linked to the plot, was nabbed by Dutch authorities last year in April. Nourzai was later released, after which the stolen funds suddenly started getting laundered on-chain via networks like ZkSync, Starknet, Ethereum, and Solana.

Many of those who fell victim to the scam expressed satisfaction at Ildar’s arrest in the comment section of the post. ZachXBT first made the connection when he revealed a link between at least one team member from the $30M ZKasino exit scam and the WhiteRock project by tracing on-chain transactions linking both projects and a personal email address.

Does Ildar’s connection to WhiteRock make it a scam?

According to ZachXBT, WhiteRock (WHITE) burst onto the scene late last year, complete with a number of large red flags that did not go unnoticed.

The on-chain investigator highlighted some of those red flags, including an anonymous team with no history, fake partnerships, and many side wallets funded via instant exchanges.

The sleuth was able to find Ildar’s connection to WhiteRock by reaching out to an influencer who was paid via a WhiteRock marketing wallet. ZachXBT also found that the wallet had a clear commingling of funds with stolen ZKasino bounty.

There were also several transactions between late February and early March 2025 in which ZKasino funds were transferred to an instant exchange, with WhiteRock wallets receiving similar quantities from other instant exchanges via XMR.

Despite its shady prospects, WhiteRock has yet to pull a rug, but ZachXBT believes that Ildar’s connection with the project, as well as the project’s history with names like ZKasino, means there is a high possibility that it will eventually happen.

In a proactive push to get ahead of the potential rug pull, the crypto sleuth has called on MEXC and Gate.io to consider delisting WHITE and conduct enhanced due diligence on the team.

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