Binance’s crime investigation team played a significant role in the arrest of a suspect linked to the ZKasino blockchain casino scam. Details are provided by Cointelegraph.
In April, ZKasino developers transferred 10,515 ETH worth $33.9 million to the Lido staking protocol and altered the website’s wording, removing the statement about returning ETH.
The coins were deposited by early participants for farming the native token ZKAS.
On April 29, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service detained a 26-year-old suspect. Assets worth over €11.4 million ($12.2 million) were seized, including real estate, a car, and cryptocurrencies. Digital information carriers were also confiscated during a search of his apartment.
The arrested individual remains in custody during the investigation. He is charged with fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering.
Binance specialists examined smart contracts and used a combination of on-chain and OSINT tools to identify the account of the 26-year-old suspect.
The suspect was identified as the platform’s founder, known by the pseudonym Derivatives Ape. Specialists passed the information to law enforcement agencies. The community played a significant role in capturing the criminal, the company noted.
Following the arrest of Derivatives Ape and the confiscation of his cryptocurrencies, some assets from ZKasino continued to move. This indicates that several other perpetrators are involved in the scam.
Earlier in May, the Northern District of California’s prosecutor’s office charged three former top executives of the lending platform Cred with conspiracy to commit money laundering and fraud amounting to $783 million.