Ildar Ilham, often known as Prometheus on X, was arrested within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at this time.
Lower than a month after being linked to the $30 million Zkasino rip-off, the founding father of DeFi protocol WhiteRock, Ildar Ilham, has been taken into custody within the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Following his arrest, the 21-year-old, also called Prometheus on X, is ready to be extradited to the Netherlands for trial, following the issuance of an Interpol Crimson Discover on March 6.
Onchain sleuth ZachXBT publicly addressed Illham’s reference to Zkasino in June, when he mentioned, “At least one team member from the $30M Zkasino exit scam appears to be involved with the project @WhiteRock_Fi WHITE due to onchain transactions linking both projects and a personal email address.”
Zkasino initially raised $33 million through a presale in 2024, however contributors have been left livid after the funds have been staked with Lido Finance as an alternative of being returned. It’s price noting that this isn’t the workforce’s first run-in with controversy, as ZachXBT referred to them as “proven bad actors” way back to 2023.
Onchain proof reveals the commingling of stolen Zkasino funds and the WhiteRock advertising and marketing pockets.
WhiteRock, which launched its token in November 2024, additionally bears its fair proportion of crimson flags, with Zach saying, “I think the risk of a rug with WhiteRock remains high due to their history with other projects,” and calling on centralized exchanges to delist the WHITE token.
WHITE, which launched at a $30 million market capitalization, reached a $2 billion market cap in June however now trades at a valuation of $490 million. Whereas the web site claims a complete worth locked (TVL) of over $150 million, the declare just isn’t verifiable by way of trusted knowledge sources.
