Nigerian Officials Allegedly Pressure Binance for Cryptocurrency Settlement Amid Employee Detention
Summary:
The CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, has shed light on the ongoing detention of Tigran Gambaryan, the company's former anti-financial crime lead, in Nigeria. He claims Nigerian authorities tried to push for a secretive cryptocurrency settlement during meetings in 2024. Binance has reportedly been actively cooperating with Nigerian law enforcement, amidst a controversial situation of alleged regulatory scrutiny and unexpected detention of its employees. The company has resisted demands from Nigerian officials, including the removal of the naira from their platform and the submission of user data, which triggered the detention of Gambaryan and another employee. The escalating situation has led Binance to suspend some of its services in Nigeria.
Emerging information indicates that Binance representatives were allegedly pressured by Nigerian authorities to agree to a confidential cryptocurrency settlement during discussions in the early part of 2024. The CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, has given an extensive update about the current imprisonment of Tigran Gambaryan, an ex-IRS agent who was leading Binance’s team to tackle financial crime. Teng has criticised the Nigerian government's activities, suggesting they've created a concerning new benchmark for global businesses by detaining two of his staff.
Tigran, who is well-respected internationally in the field of preventing financial crime, was taken into custody during a work trip to Nigeria. The CEO documented Binance’s attempts to engage productively with Nigerian authorities, which included contributing to regulatory conversations and working collaboratively with the police.
Following an invitation from the House Committee on Financial Crimes (HCFC)'s Chair, Binance staff commenced talks with Nigerian officials via public investigative hearings. Allegedly, the committee drew attention to matters related to Binance’s Nigerian operations and revealed their readiness to go to extreme measures to enforce Binance's compliance, including threatening the team and CEO with arrest warrants, and forbidding the delegation's exit from the country. A public inquiry was scheduled for January 10, where Binance was to publicly respond to any accusations in front of the accusers, journalists, and over 30 agencies. Teng maintains that Binance had not been informed about the specific allegations, and attempted to submit their responses in writing given there was no public hearing. The committee chair agreed to review the request and respond via Binance’s legal team.
Richard Teng, Binance's CEO, claims unnamed individuals proposed a payment in settlement of the allegations to his staff. According to Teng, an agent purporting to represent the HCFC committee presented Binance’s local legal assistance with the terms:
"Our lawyer relayed that he was given a demand for a substantial cryptocurrency payment, to be conducted confidentially within the next 48 hours, as a solution to dismiss the issues at hand and we were expected to make a decision by morning."
Binance refused the payment request via their local legal representatives and persisted in participating in settlement discussions. After this event, Binance made several demands as part of its plan to continue discussions with Nigerian officials.
Follow-up meetings were arranged towards the end of February involving government representatives from a variety of departments such as ONSA, the President’s office, the Central Bank, NFIU, EFCC, and the Nigerian SEC.
"Despite clear threats, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla (director of Binance Africa) were given numerous reassurances that they would be afforded safe passage for their attendance at these meetings," stated Teng.
The issue escalated when Nigerian officials made demands of Binance, which consisted of taking the naira off their platform and providing detailed user data. This culminated in the detention of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla. Binance states that despite previously being assured of their safety, the two were detained and had their passports and mobile phones seized. Gambaryan remains detained, with the Nigerian government asserting that their release is predicated on Binance's compliance with their demands.
In response to this predicament, Binance has suspended certain services in Nigeria in an attempt to settle the matter and secure Tigran Gambaryan's release.
Published At
5/7/2024 12:33:55 PM
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