Two Binance executives detained in Nigeria for two weeks: reports
Quick Take
- Binance’s investigations executive and Africa regional director have reportedly been detained against their will in Nigeria after they were invited to discuss the country’s dispute with the crypto exchange.
- Binance said it’s working to bring them home.
Two Binance executives — Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla — have been detained for the past two weeks in Nigeria against their will, amid accusations of the exchange making illegal transaction profits locally, according to multiple media reports.
Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, and Anjarwalla, a dual citizen of the UK and Kenya, arrived in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja on Feb. 25, and on the next day, they were escorted to a government property and were held there after they met with Nigerian officials, Wired reported, citing their families. Nigerian authorities seized their passports, but the officials did not inform the two of their charges, according to Wired.
The two Binance representatives were reportedly invited by Nigerian authorities to discuss the country’s accusation that Binance profited from “illegal transactions” at Nigeria’s expense. Previous reports said Nigerian authorities demanded a minimum of $10 billion from Binance for the alleged illicit activities.
“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 told The Block. “They are professionals with the highest integrity and we will provide them all the support we can. We trust there will be a swift resolution to this matter.”
Binance, which has faced regulatory scrutiny in the U.S., has already been under investigation by Nigerian authorities, according to multiple news reports. Olayemi Cardoso, the country’s central bank governor, said that Binance Nigeria potentially processed illicit flows of $26 billion from unidentifiable sources last year, according to local news outlet NairaMetrics.
Amid numerous reports of its conflicts with the Nigerian regulators, Binance cut support for the Nigerian naira on its platform, delisting all naira trading pairs among others.
According to the reports, Gambaryan was formerly a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service and currently leads the financial crime compliance team at Binance. Anjarwalla serves as the regional director for Binance in Africa.
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