Court hands over $123 million in crypto assets of unknown Ukrainian to ARMA. Allegedly linked to Rollbit online casino and money laundering via Binance
The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has allowed the transfer to the ARMA of seized cryptocurrencies, which the investigation links to an illegal online casino and money laundering through Binance. These assets amount to tens of millions of dollars, which were stored in the accounts of a Ukrainian associated with the company Bull Gaming NV (Malta, operates the crypto casino rollbit.com)
The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has allowed the transfer to the ARMA of seized cryptocurrencies, which the investigation links to an illegal online casino and money laundering through Binance. These assets amount to tens of millions of dollars, which were stored in the accounts of a Ukrainian associated with the company Bull Gaming NV (Malta, operates the crypto casino rollbit.com)
What happened
The investigation, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General’s Office, is investigating a large-scale fraud and money laundering scheme. According to the investigation, the organizers promised profits from fictitious investments, but in reality they involved people in the illegal gambling business on the sites binomo.com, rollbit.com and others.
The money received was converted into cryptocurrency and transferred through the Binance exchange. According to Chainalysis, in just one of the analyzed periods, the total amount of transactions reached over $132 million in crypto (BTC, ETH, LTC, Sol, etc.).
Who is involved in the case?
Investigators have identified accounts on Binance belonging to a Ukrainian citizen (referred to in the materials as PERSON_6) who is allegedly associated with Bull Gaming NV, an online casino operator. These accounts were previously seized by court order in 2024.
During the investigation, Bull Gaming NV, in a letter to the Cyber Police of the National Police, actually confirmed that the funds credited to the electronic wallets of the suspected Ukrainian actually belong to the specified online casino.
What kind of Ukrainian is this?
During questioning as a witness, the Ukrainian revealed that he had registered an account on the Binance crypto exchange in 2018 for personal needs. However, after registration, he never used this account, but transferred full access to it to a previously unknown man. The Ukrainian does not know how the said account is used and for what purposes.
What did the court decide?
On May 9, the Pechersk Court granted the investigation’s request and allowed the transfer of crypto assets to ARMA — the National Agency for Investigation and Asset Management. All funds have been officially recognized as material evidence in criminal proceedings for fraud and money laundering.
Reference
Rollbit.com is an online platform that combines a cryptocurrency casino, sports betting, futures trading with up to 1000x leverage, an NFT marketplace, and other GambleFi services. The platform launched in February 2020.
It also has its own token, Rollbit Coin (RLB), which is used for participating in lotteries, betting, trading, and receiving rewards. Rollbit is founded by two entrepreneurs known by the pseudonyms Lucky and Razer. Their real names are unknown.
Despite betting in cryptocurrency being illegal in most countries, it generated $81.4 billion in gross gaming revenue last year, the difference between bets taken and winnings paid out, according to research by online crime-fighting platform Yield Sec. That’s five times more than in 2022.
Registered in jurisdictions where crypto gambling is legal, such as Curacao, Malta, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar, companies operating crypto casinos, including Stake, Rollbit and Roobet, now compete in scale with the largest traditional gambling groups, writes The Financial Times.
