US Lawmakers Accuse Nigeria Of Holding Binance Executive Hostage, Urge President Biden To Intervene
Sixteen US lawmakers have accused the Nigerian government of holding Tigran Gambaryan, Head of Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team, hostage.
According to a letter written by the lawmakers to President Joe Biden, seen by Bloomberg, the congressmen, all Republicans, requested that Gambaryan’s case be referred to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
“The charges against Gambaryan are baseless and constitute a coercion tactic by the Nigerian government to extort his employer, Binance,” the lawmakers wrote to President Biden on June 4. “Following these charges, Gambaryan qualifies as a ‘U.S. citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government,'” they said.
Recall that Neusroom reported that the Nigerian government detained two Binance executives, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, on February 28, 2024, who flew to Nigeria following the country’s earlier decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites. This was after several calls by government officials that the cryptocurrency exchange was responsible for the depreciation of the naira.
Although Anjarwalla escaped custody, Gambaryan has been in detention and was later remanded in Kuje Prison.
While the Nigerian government denied the allegation that Gambaryan had been wrongfully detained, the US lawmakers claimed that he is being held hostage.
“After two rounds of meetings, which were described as starting professionally and then becoming increasingly hostile, the government of Nigeria took Mr. Gambaryan hostage,” the lawmakers wrote.
