Executive Detained in Nigeria for Two Weeks, Binance Spokesperson: Making Every Effort to Provide Assistance
Binance executives detained in Nigeria for two weeks
Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, announced its withdrawal from the Nigerian fiat currency service on March 8, automatically converting it to USDT.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Wired, the Nigerian government invited senior executives from Binance to discuss the previous suspicion of currency manipulation. Two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, arrived in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on February 25, but have been detained for nearly two weeks.
The families of Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla revealed that after meeting with government officials once, they were told to pack their bags and move into a hotel under the control of the Department of State Services.
Tigran Gambaryan is the head of Binance’s financial crime compliance department and a former agent of the US Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
A Binance spokesperson stated to CoinDesk:
“While it is currently inconvenient to comment on the authenticity of these allegations, we are indeed cooperating with the Nigerian authorities in an attempt to ensure the safe return of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla to reunite with their families. They are the most honest professionals, and we will provide them with all the assistance we can. We believe this matter will be resolved quickly.”
The Nigerian Presidential Office did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
These executives appear to have been detained due to the accusations made by Nigeria against the cryptocurrency exchange. In the past few weeks, there have been reports that the African country has demanded Binance to pay a $10 billion fine for allowing approximately $26 billion in untraceable funds to be processed in the country.
Nigeria
Binance
