Detained American Binance CEO Tigran Gambaryan was wheeled into a courtroom in Abuja, Nigeria today in a wheelchair after a herniated disc in his back left him in excruciating pain and “hardly able to function.” travel,” according to a Monday report from his family.
Gambaryan's health has been deteriorating since he was detained in Nigeria in February. At first, Gambaryan was placed under house arrest but was later transferred to the notoriously dangerous Kuje prison – which houses violent criminals including members of the terrorist group Boko Haram – after colleagues and inmates Your friend, British-Kenyan citizen Nadeem Anjarwalla, escaped.
Gambaryan, a former Internal Revenue Service employee and now Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, voluntarily traveled to Nigeria in February to meet with government officials. He was subsequently detained without explanation and later charged with money laundering and tax evasion — essentially scapegoating his employer, who Nigerian officials have accused of devaluing the naira. The tax evasion charges against Gambaryan were later dropped. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Since arriving at Kuje Prison, Gambaryan has reportedly contracted malaria, suffered from double pneumonia, complained of numbness in his feet, and collapsed in court at least once. The judge overseeing Gambaryan’s money laundering trial issued a court order requiring officials at Kuje Prison to release his medical records, but they have not complied.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki, said she was “heartbroken to see her once strong and healthy husband in such a state.”
“This ordeal has taken a toll on him, leaving him in so much pain that he can barely walk. I don’t understand why this is being allowed to continue,” she said in a statement. “All he did was come to Nigeria for a meeting.” “Now our lives have been turned upside down and his health is in danger. I beg the Nigerian authorities to urgently release my husband on humanitarian grounds. This situation is destroying him. I need him home safely with us now.”
The Biden administration has been criticized for seemingly doing little to support Gambaryan.
Two members of Congress, Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.) visited Gambaryan in prison last month, and asked the U.S. embassy to advocate for his humanitarian release due to “horrific conditions in prison, his innocence, and his health.”
Hill was one of 12 signatories to a letter from members of Congress to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger D. Carstens calling for Gambaryan's case to be treated as a hostage situation.
A State Department spokesperson told CoinDesk earlier this year that the department was “aware of reports” about Gambaryan’s detention, while a White House spokesperson later referred CoinDesk back to the State Department.
Without intervention, Gambaryan could be stuck in Kuje prison until the fall. His money laundering trial has been postponed until October while Nigerian courts are closed for the summer.
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