Binance Calls for the Release of Colleagues Amidst Allegations of Secret Crypto Payment Demand
Binance CEO Richard Teng has spoken out on the ongoing detention of colleague Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria, publicly claiming for the first time that the crypto exchange’s compliance officer, Tigran Gambaryan, is “innocent and must be released.”
As posted by Richard Teng on X (formerly known as Twitter), he tweeted with the hashtag #BringTigranHome that his friend and colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, has been unlawfully detained by the Nigerian government for more than 70 days.
My friend and colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, has been unlawfully detained by the Nigerian government for more than 70 days. We're tirelessly working to #BringTigranHome.
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) May 7, 2024
For the first time publicly, I'm sharing the full context of this situation here. ⤵️https://t.co/Rg3DEYJZgW
Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance's Africa regional manager, and Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen in charge of the crypto exchange's financial crime compliance, were arrested on February 26 after arriving in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, on charges that Binance was profiting from illicit transactions there.
On February 28, criminal charges were brought against them, and on March 22, Nigerian authorities announced that Anjarwalla had escaped from custody.
Nadeem, who escaped detention in Nigeria, was reported to have been traced to Kenya and faces extradition.
Teng stated in a blog post on the Binance website early on Tuesday, "To invite a company's mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide."
Gambaryan has "devoted his professional life to fighting financial crimes" and was formerly a Special Agent for the US IRS. According to Teng, he was hired by Binance in 2021 to assist the exchange in strengthening its compliance controls.
After that, he helped international law enforcement freeze and seize more than $2.2 billion in assets, including more than $285 million, in collaboration with US agencies like the FBI, DOJ, and DEA.
"Tigran did not travel to Nigeria in the capacity of a "negotiator" or "decision-maker." The CEO of Binance continued, "He was just serving as a functional expert in financial crime and capacity building in policy discussions.
Teng claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecutor informed the court on April 25 during Gambaryan's bail hearing that "the first defendant (Binance) is operating virtually." We only need to hold this accused person (Tigran).
Teng stated that Binance will keep working tirelessly to help Gambaryan, asking that he be permitted to return home to his family. Following this, the company would collaborate with Nigerian law enforcement to remove "bad actors" from its platform and with the Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria to settle any potential backlog of unpaid taxes.
"If we're going to move forward, this crisis needs to be resolved quickly, and Tigran needs to be allowed to return home," he continued.
Following the SEC's June 2023 accusations that Binance was operating illegally, Binance decided to stop seeking out Nigerian investors.
Binance then began hearing concerns that the P2P naira prices from merchant advertisements were influencing the country’s foreign exchange rate. The exchange worked on restrictions, including removing abnormally priced ads, and made it clear that malicious users would be removed from the platform. Despite assurances that the meetings would be friendly, Teng added, Tigran and Nadeem were still detained upon arrival in Nigeria.
As a goodwill gesture and to remove any doubt regarding our involvement in the country's currency crisis, Teng stated today, "Earlier this month, I made the difficult decision to turn off our P2P product on the Binance platform for Nigeria and end the trading of all naira pairs on the spot exchange product on the Binance platform."
When we made this drastic move, we hoped that our colleagues would be freed and that Binance could carry on collaborating with the Nigerian government to address any other issues. Regretfully, that did not occur.
Teng also exposed claims made by Nigerian officials regarding their desire for a secret cryptocurrency settlement. He stated that as Binance employees were leaving the house of the representative building in Abuja after a scheduled pre-hearing engagement in private, they were approached by unknown individuals who made them an offer to make a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in 48 hours as a settlement of the allegations.
The team declined the offer as it viewed it as not legitimate and departed the country as they were concerned about their safety in Nigeria.
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