Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan ends ordeal in Nigeria

Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan is free, ending an eight-month ordeal that threatened diplomatic relations between the United States and Nigeria.

Gambaryan was first detained on February 26 in Abuja along with his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla. The latter, a Kenyan who heads the digital asset exchange’s operations in Africa, soon eluded the guards and escaped Nigeria, leaving Gambaryan to face the charges on his own. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged him with money laundering and tax evasion but later dropped the tax-related charges.

After an eight-month court battle, accusations of the Nigerian government denying him medical access and a diplomatic push from the U.S. government, EFCC has finally withdrawn its charges against the former IRS criminal investigator.

In a court hearing on Wednesday, the EFCC’s lawyers conceded that Gambaryan was a junior employee and could not be prosecuted for the crimes Binance has committed. This has been Gambaryan’s defense all along, but the EFCC has ignored it and pushed on with the trial.

Judge Emeka Nwite accepted the EFCC’s case withdrawal and ended the long-running legal drama. Sources say that Gambaryan has been released from the notorious Kuje prison in Abuja, but it’s not clear yet whether he has traveled back to Georgia.

Gambaryan’s release was most likely due to a diplomatic push by Washington. Over the past few months, the case has attracted the attention of lawmakers and government officials in the U.S., and they have all called for his immediate release. This included a group of legislators who submitted a resolution in Congress to have the U.S. government declare Gambaryan as “wrongfully detained by a foreign government.”

The most recent push was by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who demanded the ‘immediate release’ of the Binance executive during a meeting with her Nigerian counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

While they have released Gambaryan, Nigerian authorities are still pressing on with their charges against Binance for money laundering and tax evasion. For the latter, the West African nation is demanding $10 billion in penalties, which would be more than double the record-setting $4.3 billion settlement the exchange reached in November with American authorities for operating an illegal business.

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