WhiteRock Finance Founder Arrested in UAE Over ZKasino

The arrest was revealed by crypto investigator ZachXBT, who linked Ilham to wide-scale fundraising scams involving undelivered airdrops. Ilham’s arrest also follows the April 2024 detention of Elham Nourzai in the Netherlands for similar allegations related to ZKasino. Extradition proceedings are reportedly underway. After the news was made public, WhiteRock’s token, WHITE, plummeted by close to 40%. 

In the US, the Justice Department is investigating a former DigitalMint employee accused of profiting from ransomware crypto payments by colluding with hackers. DigitalMint says it cooperated fully with law enforcement. Meanwhile, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm prepares for his criminal trial in New York, and is facing charges of money laundering and sanctions violations. Storm denied wrongdoing and received very strong support from the crypto community. 

UAE Detains WhiteRock Finance Founder

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates reportedly took Ildar Ilham, the founder of decentralized finance protocol WhiteRock Finance, into custody as part of an ongoing investigation into a $30 million scam tied to the controversial ZKasino platform. The arrest was brought to public attention by well-known crypto sleuth ZachXBT, who posted on X that Ilham’s detainment was linked to allegations of “wide-scale fraud” associated with ZKasino’s operations.

ZKasino launched in April of 2024, and promised users impressive rewards, including an airdrop of its native token. However, more than a year later, many investors claim they have yet to receive any returns or the promised airdropped tokens. This raised serious concerns about the legitimacy of the platform and its fundraising activities, which allegedly collected around $30 million from unsuspecting users. According to ZachXBT, WhiteRock Finance—Ilham’s project—was directly tied to ZKasino’s fundraising.

In April 2024, Dutch authorities arrested a 26-year-old man, believed to be crypto personality Elham Nourzai, on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. Investigators linked him to the ZKasino scandal, and Ilham’s recent arrest appears to be a continuation of the same criminal probe. 

Extradition proceedings are reportedly in motion to transfer Ilham from the UAE to the Netherlands for further investigation and potential prosecution. Another person believed to be involved, Lior Ben Zakan, was absent from any official statements or arrest reports.

The arrest had an immediate market impact. The price of WhiteRock’s native token, WHITE, plummeted by close to 40% within hours from $0.0006582 to $0.0003909 after the news of Ilham’s detainment. At press time, the crypto was worth about $0.0004438.

WHITE’s price action over the past 24 hours (Source: CoinMarketCap)

This case now only adds to the still growing list of crypto-related scams.US authorities also recently revealed that they recovered only $40,000 of more than $250,000 that was fraudulently taken from an individual via a fake inaugural committee.

US Targets Insider in Ransom Payment Scheme

Ildar Ilham is not the only person facing the wrath of the law. The US Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into a former employee of DigitalMint, a Chicago-based firm specializing in ransomware negotiations and secure crypto payments to hackers. 

The person is accused of secretly making deals with ransomware groups to take a cut of the cryptocurrency used in extortion payments. According to DigitalMint President Marc Grens, the employee was “immediately terminated” after the allegations surfaced and the company has been cooperating fully with law enforcement. Grens explained that DigitalMint itself is not a target of the investigation and acted quickly to inform the affected clients and protect its operations.

DigitalMint is registered with the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. It has built a reputation on its ability to securely handle ransomware incidents and facilitate compliant crypto transactions on behalf of victims. The company is still fully committed to trust and transparency in the wake of the allegations, which were first reported by Bloomberg.

The incident took place during a shift in how companies respond to ransomware attacks. A February 2025 report by cyber response firm Coveware found that only 25% of companies paid ransoms in the last quarter of 2024. This was a huge drop from 85% in early 2019. The drop in this statistic is likely due to improved cybersecurity, better backup protocols, and a growing refusal to fund criminal networks. Coveware also attributed the decline to increased regulatory scrutiny and more aggressive law enforcement action against ransomware gangs.

Ransomware outcomes for Q4 2024 (Source: Coveware)

In fact, the US Treasury this week sanctioned the Russia-based Aeza Group, its leadership, and a linked crypto wallet, after alleging the group hosted ransomware tools and info-stealing malware. 

Roman Storm Speaks Out Ahead of Trial

Roman Storm, one of the co-founders and developers behind the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, spoke publicly ahead of his upcoming criminal trial in the United States, which is scheduled to begin on July 14 in the Southern District of New York. In an interview that was released by Crypto In America, Storm addressed the legal battle that attracted so much attention from both the crypto community and regulators. 

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He stated that his legal team plans to confront allegations that he personally benefited from illicit funds tied to Tornado Cash, but he did not confirm whether he would take the stand in his own defense. “I don’t have a 100% answer right now. I may or may not,” Storm said regarding his potential courtroom testimony.

Storm was indicted in 2023 after the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) decision to sanction addresses associated with Tornado Cash. The mixing service was accused of facilitating the laundering of stolen cryptocurrency, particularly funds allegedly tied to the North Korea-based Lazarus Group. 

The charges against Storm include money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business, and conspiracy to violate US sanctions. While Storm is still in the US facing trial, his co-defendant Roman Semenov remains at large. Another Tornado Cash co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands and sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Since his arrest, Storm received a lot of support from the crypto industry, with many seeing the case as an attack on open-source software developers and privacy advocates. High-profile figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Paradigm’s Matt Huang, and the Ethereum Foundation have all contributed to his legal defense fund, which raised over $750,000 by late June. 

When he spoke about the emotional toll the case has taken, Storm acknowledged the mental strain and said he would need time to recover before returning to the work he is passionate about. He described the experience as deeply disillusioning, especially due to his loss of faith in common sense and justice.