The U.S. government is pushing Nigerian officials to release Tigran Gambaryan, the Binance executive who has been detained in the country for the past seven months, according to The New York Times. The move comes amid deteriorating health conditions for Gambaryan and mounting pressure from onlookers advocating for his release.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria have been privately pressuring the country to release Gambaryan on humanitarian grounds. These efforts have reportedly ramped up since June, around when congressional representatives French Hill (R-Ark.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) visited Gambaryan in prison.
Last week, a video surfaced showing Gambaryan in dire straights. He reportedly suffers from a herniated disc as well as bouts of malaria and pneumonia and has been denied medical care while incarcerated.
In February, Gambaryan, a former IRS agent who was hired as Binance’s compliance chief, and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, the exchange’s regional manager for Africa, traveled to the country after Nigerian officials asked to hold a meeting under false pretenses. Both executives were detained upon arrival and charged with money laundering and tax evasion, the latter of which were later dropped.
Lawyers for Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, are pressuring the U.S. State Department to label Gambaryan as “wrongfully detained.”
According to two unnamed State Department officials cited by the NYT, Gambaryan’s detention has been a “significant factor” in worsening relations between the U.S. and Nigeria. U.S. authorities are reportedly in contact with Nigeria’s president, finance minister, attorney general and trade minister to resolve the issue.
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Gambaryan appeared in court last week to apply for bail to seek medical care. If granted, he would be released in October when his trial is due to begin. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Nigeria claims that Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, contributed to the decline of its local currency, the naira, by facilitating $26 billion in illegal cross-border transfers. The exchange, which has since cut support for the currency, separately faces tax evasion charges in the country.
Binance CEO Richard Teng has called for Gambaryan’s release, arguing that he is his mid-level employee who should not bear responsibility for the company’s actions.
Before his detention, Gambaryan was best known in the crypto community as one of the lead investigators that brought down the Silk Road darknet market and BTC-e crypto exchange, which was found to be a hotspot for money laundering.
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