Binance chief Tigran Gambaryan, who has been in custody in Nigeria since February, limped into an Abuja courtroom on Monday, dragging his left leg after prison authorities rejected his request for a wheelchair.
In a video uploaded to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday afternoon, a frustrated Gambaryan begs a prison guard escorting him to the courtroom to help him walk.
"I'm not okay, this is f*cked up," Gambaryan said in the video, grabbing the guard's wrist for support. As the guard walked away, leaving Gambaryan with only a crutch to lean on, Gambaryan turned to the small crowd of onlookers and said:
"They told him not to help me. He said there's a manual - it's bullshit. Why can't I use a fucking wheelchair? It's a show. I'm a fucking innocent person. Why are you doing this to me?"
After several clearly painful steps, Gambaryan again reached for the guard's hand to support him, but the guard pulled his hand away, telling Gambaryan, "Don't hold me, please. You can go."
"I can't walk, damn it, my spine is fucked. I'm a fucking Human," Gambaryan said in the video. "I'm not okay, damn it."
On Monday, Gambaryanâs lawyers filed a new motion for medical bail, asking the judge to release him so he can get medical care for illnesses he developed in prison, including malaria, pneumonia, tonsillitis and complications from a herniated disc in his back. The last of these has left him in severe pain and barely able to walk, according to a family representative.
A prosecutor at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) â the organisation currently prosecuting Gambaryan for money laundering â reportedly opposed the bail application, arguing that Gambaryan is not actually ill and claiming that he is refusing treatment.
Gambaryan's previous request for bail was denied in May.
Kuje prison officials, where Ghambaryan has been held since March, previously refused to release Ghambaryan's medical records, but some of his records were given to the court during a bail hearing on Monday, according to a family spokesman. The medical records indicate a need for immediate surgery, the spokesman said, but "key elements of the records, including an MRI, are missing."
The spokesman said Gambaryan was not only denied proper medical care, but also denied proper access to his lawyers and U.S. Embassy staff.
âThis situation is completely unfair,â Gambaryanâs wife, Yuki, said in a statement. âThe U.S. government must do more to help Tigran. I urge them to use all available means to free an innocent American who is facing irreparable harm⊠This entire situation is inhumane and degrading, and I am fed up. There must be consequences for this disregard for the law and human rights.â
Scapegoat for Binance
Gambarian, a former IRS agent and head of Binance's financial crimes unit, was arrested in Abuja seven months ago, shortly after he voluntarily traveled to the Nigerian capital at the invitation of the government.
Gambaryan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binanceâs regional manager for Africa and a Kenyan and British citizen, were initially placed under house arrest. But when Anjarwalla mysteriously escaped in March, Gambaryan was transferred to the notoriously dangerous Kuje prison and charged with tax evasion and money laundering â apparently as a scapegoat for his employer, who Nigerian officials have blamed, without evidence, for the collapse of the national currency, the naira.
The tax evasion charges were later dropped, but Gambaryan's money laundering trial has been ongoing since June. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
So far, the U.S. government has made no public statement about Gambaryanâs situation. The State Department told CoinDesk it was âaware of reportsâ of his detention in March, but did not name Gambaryan. A White House spokesperson referred CoinDesk to the State Department two months later after multiple requests for comment.
