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In January, Tigran Gambaryan, a compliance officer for cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was reportedly approached with a $150 million bribe request during a trip to Nigeria. The incident, which is said to have come from someone linked to the Nigerian government after Gambaryan was accused of tax evasion, generated a state of panic causing Binance officials to vacate Nigeria. Gambaryan reportedly documented this in a detailed report which was handed to Binance’s lawyers and shared with inside contacts within the Nigerian government.
After Gambaryan made a return trip to Nigeria in February, he was arrested alongside another Binance employee, Nadeem Anjarwalla, creating a crisis within Binance. Gambaryan has now been held for four weeks in a Nigerian prison, he was transferred there from a government compound on April 8. This serves as yet another legal challenge for Binance, which already agreed to a $4.3 billion fine last year to resolve U.S. government charges of facilitating criminal activity. Additionally, in April, Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, received a four-month prison sentence for his role in these violations.
Both Binance and Gambaryan have now been charged with tax evasion and money laundering by the Nigerian authorities. Binance has rebuffed these claims stating that Gambaryan does not have the authority to make major decisions within the company.
As part of the ongoing case, Binance’s CEO, Richard Teng, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday, criticising the Nigerian government’s decision to detain Gambaryan, claiming it’s a tactic to control Binance. Nigeria on the other hand has insisted that it has a strong case against the company based on the facts and evidence.
Nigeria, which has the second-highest rate of cryptocurrency adoption globally, saw its financial watchdogs in 2023 issuing a directive to Binance to cease soliciting investors in Nigeria. Despite the company’s halt on advertising and the offer to meet with Nigerian government officials, tensions have not been resolved. In recent months, Nigerian authorities have blamed Binance’s trading activities for the collapse of their local currency, the naira, and have also requested Binance representatives for a hearing at the country’s House of Representatives.
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