- The two senior executives of Binance arrested by Nigerian authorities last month were finally named.
- They were Tigran Gambaryan, a former US federal agent, and Nadeem Anjarwalla.
- A Nigerian official denied reports that their government was seeking $10 billion as compensation from the cryptocurrency exchange.
What Went Wrong?
On February 26, Binance was cast in the spotlight again all for the wrong reasons. Following its hefty $4.3 billion guilty plea and the pending sentencing of its former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, in the US for several violations, news broke that the company got in hot waters with Nigerian authorities. This led to the arrest of its two senior executives, who were not named until now.
According to Wired, one of the persons arrested was Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s VP of Global Intelligence and Investigations and a former special agent in the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The other was Nadeem Anjarwalla, a regional manager for the African operations of the crypto exchange.
During his tenure in the government, Gambaryan tackled high-profile cryptocurrency-related cases on the dark web. Among the notable ones were linked to the Mt. Gox affair, a drug ring operation, and child exploitation activities. Owing to his immense contribution to the government, his wife, Yuki Gambaryan, is now appealing for the intervention of the US government for his release.
The specifics of their offense remain a bit blurry but we learned that it had something to do with illegal transactions that flowed through the exchange. The nation’s central bank claimed the company helped orchestrate foreign exchange manipulation through currency speculation and rate fixing, which allegedly contributed to the naira’s devaluation.
The source stated that Gambaryan and Anjarwalla went to Abuja prior to their arrest to discuss the ongoing crypto exchange ban in Nigeria and to address allegations of their company having a hand in the devaluation of the naira. Unfortunately, the meeting went sour, which led to their detention and passport confiscation.
The senior Binance officials were reportedly kept inside a government facility. They were visited by a US State Department official and the UK’s foreign office representative earlier, but due to the presence of Nigerian government guards during the meeting, the parties didn’t have a chance to discuss things privately.
Recently, reports surfaced that the Nigerian government was demanding $10 billion for the settlement of Binance’s case and the release of its officials. However, such claims were denied by Nigeria’s Special Presidential Adviser Bayo Onanuga.
Official Statement of Binance
“While it is inappropriate for us to comment on the substance of the claims at this time, we can say that we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to bring Nadeem and Tigran back home safely to their families,” a Binance spokesperson said.
“They are professionals with the highest integrity and we will provide them all the support we can,” added the representative. “We trust there will be a swift resolution to this matter.”