PANews reported on March 12 that according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Wired, two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were forcibly detained by Nigerian authorities in the past two weeks. The executives appear to have been detained in connection with Nigeria's accusations against the cryptocurrency exchange. Over the past few weeks, reports emerged that Nigeria is demanding that Binance pay a $10 billion fine for allowing approximately $26 billion in untraceable funds to be processed in the country.
The report quoted the events described by the family members of the two executives, saying that after the Nigerian government invited Binance executives to discuss the current dispute with Binance, the two arrived in Abuja on February 25 and met with government officials for the first time. After the meeting, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla "were taken to their hotel and told to pack their things and then move into a 'guest house' run by Nigeria's National Security Agency." Gambaryan is Binance’s head of financial crimes compliance and a U.S. citizen. Anjarwalla is Binance’s Africa regional manager in Kenya and holds dual British and Kenyan citizenship. Although they were visited by U.S. and British government officials, Nigerian government security guards were also present during the meeting, Wired magazine reported. Gambaryan is a former special agent with the IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Cybercrime Division.
A Binance spokesperson said: “While it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the substance of these allegations at this time, we can say that we are working with the Nigerian authorities to bring Gambaryan and Anjarwalla safely home to their families. They are professionals of the highest integrity. We will provide them with all the support we can. We believe this matter will be resolved quickly." There were reports last month that two Binance executives were detained in Nigeria, but the specific process and personnel information were not disclosed. .