Nigeria finally dropped all charges against Binance Executive Tigran Gamaryan after seven long months.
A press release states that Gambaryan is returning to the United States with his family after leaving Nigeria’s Kuje jail on Wednesday evening.
Gambaryan was charged with money-laundering violations by both the Nigerian government and Binance, even though Binance was at the center of this particular case. The charges were initially denied by the crypto exchange.
“The government has reviewed the case and, taken into consideration that the second defendant (Mr. Gambaryan) is an employee of the first defendant (Binance Holdings Limited), whose status in the matter has more impact than the second defendant’s, and also taking into consideration some critical international and diplomatic reasons, the state seeks to discontinue the case against the second defendant,” The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria has told a Nigerian Court earlier this week.
The government dropped the tax fraud charges that it filed against Gambaryan as well as Binance just a few short months earlier.
“The past eight months have been a living nightmare. I wish it hadn’t taken this long for his release, or that his health had not declined so much, but we can now focus on healing as a family,” Yuki Gambaryan said that Tigran’s wife in a press release.
US officials announced the US announcement the day after the US dropped charges against Gambaryan. “bilateral liaison” Nigerians are focusing on illegal finance and cryptocurrency.
“The United States reaffirms our commitment to a close partnership with Nigeria, and the US Department of Justice is continuing its coordination with the Government of Nigeria to build its capacity to pursue cybercrime investigations and prosecutions,” According to the press release,
Bloomberg reported the case against Gambaryan was dropped due to his health problems. The court refused his bail not even two weeks before, despite the fact that he has ongoing health problems.
Gambaryan’s health suffered while he was in Nigeria. He has been detained in Kuje prison in Nigeria since the spring. His health has been affected by a herniated disc and he previously suffered from pneumonia.
Binance told Blockworks — and Nigeria — that Gambaryan wasn’t a “decision maker” Since he had been detained in February, he has not controlled any of the actions that the company took. Yuki Gamaryan, has reiterated Binance’s statement.
Binance CEO Richard Teng also published a post on Gambaryan’s ongoing detention.
“It is useful to point out that Nigeria has never been a big market for Binance. The government has said that we made $26 [billion] in revenue from Nigeria in 2023. That is not the case. The $26 [billion] figure is the total transaction volume from 2023,” Gambaryan writes in August.
Some US politicians visited Gambaryan this year to urge Nigerian authorities to release their executive. Rep. French Hill stated that the executive was being held in Nigeria. “outrageous” In September, after video footage of a Gambaryan visibly distraught entering a Nigerian courtroom surfaced.
Gambaryan, before joining Binance was an a “legendary” IRS Agent who led multiple investigations on Silk Road people.
Wired’s Andy Greenberg — who wrote the book “Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency,” with Gambaryan as the protagonist — called the former IRS agent “kind of a legendary figure in the crypto crime investigation world” in a podcast.
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