Binance CEO Richard Teng has called on U.S. authorities and international advocates to intervene as Tigran Gambaryan, a former U.S. federal agent and Binance executive, approaches six months of detention in Nigeria under deteriorating conditions.
In a statement published on Binance’s website on August 27, Teng highlighted that Gambaryan is suffering from “severe pain” and is unable to walk due to a “herniated disc.”
“Despite his condition, Nigerian authorities have denied him adequate medical care, including basic needs such as access to a wheelchair,”
Teng noted.
Despite court orders to release Tigran Gambaryan’s medical records and demands for humane treatment, Nigerian authorities have not complied, according to the CEO.
Teng urged the U.S. government to leverage its influence to secure Gambaryan’s release on humanitarian grounds and to protest Nigeria’s detention practices. He called on the U.S. administration to recognize Gambaryan as one of its “unlawfully detained” citizens abroad.
“There is no need to imprison an innocent employee to answer for any allegations against Binance. We have resolved matters in countries around the world, including the U.S., Thailand, and most recently in Brazil and India, in a reasonable, collaborative, and amicable manner with governments,”
Teng stated.
This is not Teng’s first appeal for intervention. In May 2024, he appealed to the Nigerian government to release Gambaryan, who is the head of Binance’s Financial Crime and Compliance unit.
At the time, Teng emphasized that the situation required attention from the global business community. He warned that Nigeria’s practice of inviting mid-level employees for policy discussions only to detain them sets a “dangerous new precedent” for international companies.
The Nigerian government detained Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, after inviting them to Abuja to discuss the exchange’s compliance with local laws in February 2024. Later, they charged Binance and its executives with four counts of tax evasion.
Local reports indicated that CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso accused the exchange of facilitating hidden transactions worth billions of naira, which contributed to the instability of the Nigerian Naira.
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