According to a local report, Dutch authorities have arrested a suspect involved in the fraud relating to popular online gambling site, ZKasino. As per the report that surfaced on Friday, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested the 26-year-old man on April 29. Consequently, the FIOD accused the man of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering.
More so, the agency confiscated more than $12.2 million worth of cryptocurrency assets, expensive cars, and real estate. It is worth mentioning that the arrest of the 26-year-old is the first to emerge from the investigation relating to the ZKasino scam case. Now, according to FIOD, the suspect will remain in detention for 14 days more as the investigation deepens.
How ZKasino Defrauded Investors
It is worth mentioning that ZKasino emerged as a blockchain gambling site, promising early investors a lucrative return on their deposit within a month. Accordingly, the gambling outlet launched on April 20, attracting more than 10,500 ETH from about 10,000 investors.
However, ZKasino failed to fulfill the promise. Investors learned that they’d been swindled on the same day the platform launched. Then, an on-chain transaction indicated that the blockchain gambling site had moved all the ETH to the Lido staking protocol.
Additionally, fears about the authenticity of the platform intensified when the gambling outlet in a post on X (formerly Twitter) around March said it had concluded a Series A investment round. ZKasino valued the investment round $350 million claiming that it enjoyed the support of popular crypto exchange, MEXC, venture firm Big Brain Holdings, and many others.
Yet, shortly after the post surfaced, Big Brain Holdings refuted the claims. The venture firm went on to recall how it recorded a huge financial loss in 2022 after investing in the ZigaZag exchange. Big Brain Holdings added that some of the team members of the ZigZag exchange also contributed to the development of ZKasino.
The venture firm established that it didn’t invest in ZKasino due to how it perceived it to be a fraudulent project. However, the firm received a pro-rata token distribution offer from the blockchain casino.
Link Between the Arrested Suspect and Derivatives Ape as the Mastermind of the Scam
Meanwhile, there are strong emerging pointers that the arrested suspect could be a popular pseudonymous X user, Derivatives Ape. Don’t forget that the identity of the suspect has not been confirmed leading to the increasing speculation.
Prominent crypto analyst, FatMan argued that the suspect could be Derivatives Ape. The analyst stated that the suspect is the same age as Derivatives Ape who is also a citizen of the Netherlands.
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