US Lawmaker Urges Congress To Treat Binance Executive Detained In Nigeria As A Hostage

A
US
lawmaker
has
urged
Congress
to
declare
a
Binance
executive
detained
in
Nigeria
as
a
”hostage”
if
his
criminal
case
in
the
country
is
not
resolved
by
mid-July.

Representative
Rich
McCormick

said
in
a
July
10
resolution
to
Congress
that
the
Nigerian
government
had
wrongfully
detained
Binance
executive
Tigran
Gambaryan
in
order
to
extort
the
crypto
exchange.

“If
Tigran’s
case
is
not
resolved
by
mid-July,
he
may
remain
in
detention
for
an
even
longer
undue
period
of
time”
because
the
court
typically
takes
a
recess
from
mid-July
until
September,
said
Rep.
McCormick.

Over
100
Federal
Agents
And
Prosecutors
Call
For
Binance
Executive’s
Release

Rep.
McCormick
submitted
the
resolution
on
behalf
of
himself
and
Rep.
French
Hill,
who
went
to
see
Gambaryan
in
prison
on
June
20.

This
recent
call
for
action
follows
similar
responses
from
more
than
100
federal
agents
and
prosecutors.
All
of
them
have
asked
the
State
Department
to
secure
the
Binance
executive’s
release.

Thanks
to

@RepMcCormick
and

@RepFrenchHill
for
introducing
H.
Res.
1348
Urging
the
Government
of
Nigeria
to
immediately
release

@TigranGambaryan
from
imprisonment.

https://t.co/zOlW0H66uW

—
Noah
Perlman
(@NoahBPerlman)

July
11,
2024

The
debacle
started
in
February
when
authorities


charged

Gambaryan
and
colleague
Nadeem
Anjarwalla
with
money
laundering
and
tax
evasion
when
the
two
traveled
to
Nigeria
on
behalf
of
Binance.

Although
Nigeria’s
tax
authority
dropped
its


tax
evasion
charges

in
June,
the
Economic
and
Finance
Crimes
Commission’s
money
laundering
case
is
still
ongoing.

Anjarwalla
managed
to
escape
custody
and
fled
to
Kenya.
However,
he
is
expected
to
be
extradited
to
Nigeria.

Petition
To
Free
Tigran
Gambaryan
Has
Almost
5,000
Signatures

Gambaryan’s
wife,
Yuki,
has
launched
a
petition
to
let
her
husband
return
to
the
US.
It
has
received
4,983
signatures
as
of
4:05
a.m.
EST. 

In
the
petition,
she
said
that


Gambaryan

traveled
with
“just
a
small
bag”
since
he
was
only
“supposed
to
be
there
for
48
hours”
after
arriving
in
Abuja,
Nigeria
on
Feb.
25.

“Now,
multiple
weeks
later,
the
Nigerian
authorities
continue
to
refuse
to
allow
him
to
leave
the
country
as
they
work-up
bogus
charges,
and
the
conditions
of
his
detention
have
worsened
significantly,”
she
wrote
in
the
petition.

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