Binance Defends Detained Exec in Ongoing Talks with Nigeria

Binance comes to the rescue of its compliance chief, who is currently detained in Nigeria.

by Brian Danga. Fact checked by: Ciaran Lawler, Editor: Stefan Trapp

Published: April 3, 2024 │ 2:54 PM GMT

Tigran Gambaryan of Binance pointing a finger from a prison cell. — *Created by Gabor Kovacs from DailyCoin*

Binance has addressed the situation involving its compliance chief with Nigerian authorities.
The exchange said the compliance chief “is not to be held responsible.”
Binance also highlighted the exec’s previous collaborations with Nigerian authorities.

Crypto exchange Binance said on Wednesday that its detained Head of Financial Crime Compliance (FCC), Tigran Gambaryan, should not be “held responsible” in ongoing talks between the company and Nigerian government officials.

Nigerian authorities detained Gambaryan and Binance’s Regional Manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, in February after reportedly inviting them into the country. While Gambaryan remains in custody, Anjarwalla made headlines on March 25 after allegedly fleeing the country.

Binance Comes to the Rescue of Gambaryan

In a statement dated March 3, Binance implied that Gambaryan should not be held accountable while the exchange engages Nigerian authorities on the way forward following accusations of tampering with the exchange rate for naira and evading tax.

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Notably, the statement stressed that Gambaryan was a strict law enforcement professional and was “not part of Binance management.”

“Binance respectfully requests that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, is not held responsible while current discussions are ongoing between Binance and Nigerian government officials,” the statement read.

Binance said that Gambaryan and his FCC team have previously collaborated with Nigerian authorities on over 600 information requests, providing crucial information that helped tackle a range of crimes, including fraud, money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion.

“Tigran’s team also provided multiple training sessions for Nigerian crime fighters on the role of exchanges in the digital-asset ecosystem. This included a three-hour online workshop for 70 Nigerian EFCC officials in mid-2023 and, late last year, two full-day sessions for EFCC officials in Abuja and Lagos,” Binance added.

Meanwhile, despite Gambaryan and Anjarwalla filing a human rights violation lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, local media outlets reported that the two will be arraigned on April 4 over tax evasion charges.