Binance CEO, Richard Teng has made a fresh statement on the detention of Tigran Gambaryan his company executive in Nigeria over charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
Richard said his team was working round the clock to bring Tigran back to the United States ending his 7 months of detention in Nigeria.
The Binance CEO made the recent remark on the sidelines of the Token2049 conference in Singapore held today.
“We have appealed to the Nigerian government repeatedly to release Tigran so that he can go home and get the proper medical treatment that he needs.”
“There’s no need to hold our staff. He’s held unjustly, unfairly ko,”
It is distressing for all of us,” said Teng. “Especially for the families. For us at Binance, this is a top priority for us. We have a task force internally working across the clock, looking at different avenues from legal to political.” Teng said
The Binance CEO explained further that he hopes Tigran can be designated as an unlawfully detained citizen by the US to speed up his release and extraction process. He added that Binance has tried appealing to the Nigerian governmentt to release Tigran on humanitarian grounds.
Tigran’s alleged health conditions
Several reports allege Tigran has contracted Pneumonia twice since being locked up in a Nigerian prison, He is also suffering from a prolonged back issue which has been part of his medical history for years. The executive collapsed in court in one of his appearances raising concerns about the state of his health. Nigerian authorities believe his health condition is exaggerated and not as bad as portrayed.
Back Story
Tigran who was serving as Binance’s head of financial crime Compliance was invited to Nigeria with his colleague on February 26 to iron out issues bordering compliance in the country.
The meeting between both parties took a bad turn and both executives were detained and reprimanded. Nardeem Anjarwalla managed to escape custody with a second passport but Tigran could not. He was tried and eventually sent to Kuje prison in Abuja.
He has been detained for 7 months with several court appearances in between.
What to Know
Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world and has run into issues with various jurisdictions, especially in areas of compliance. Binance has had a spat with Brazil, India, Nigeria, and even the United States.
Binance is doubling its workforce in response to this challenge with a focus on its compliance department.
Nigeria is a huge cryptocurrency market and is currently ranked second in terms of crypto adoption by Chainalysis.
