Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of crypto firm Binance and a former US federal agent, pleaded not guilty on Monday after being detained by the Nigerian government on charges of money laundering.
Gambaryan, an Armenian-born crypto criminal investigator, has spearheaded digital fraud cases throughout his career, first as an IRS-CI (Criminal Investigation) agent and now as the leader of Binance’s criminal investigations division. Now, he is being detained alongside fellow Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla by government authorities in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja, where he is being held without a passport.
Gambaryan’s lawyer additionally argues that he cannot be held liable for any Binance activities in the West African nation because he does not have decision-making powers in the company operations. Nigerian Justice Emeka Nwite rejected this defense, countering that he acted as a representative for the country during past visits.
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“Binance respectfully requests that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, is not held responsible while current discussions are ongoing between Binance and Nigerian government officials,” the company wrote in its official statement.
In February of this year, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla (a citizen of the UK and Kenya) were on a 48-hour business trip to Nigeria when they were apprehended by the Nigerian government. The country had been conducting a widespread purge of cryptocurrency exchanges as part of an effort to bolster its national currency, which had plummeted rapidly. The Binance executives intended to meet with Nigerian government officials about their new policy blocking Binance and other crypto exchanges on the grounds that they were contributing to the devaluation of the “naira” and permitting “illicit flows” of money.
Gambaryan and his colleague were reportedly escorted to their hotel room, forced to pack their bags, and driven to a compound under Nigerian government control. The authorities took away his passport and managed to obtain a court order to “investigate” him. He was not told what the investigation was about, nor was he released even after being interrogated.
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He was eventually charged with tax-related crimes, despite being a renowned IRS agent in the United States. He had also previously helped Nigerian authorities recover $400,000 in stolen crypto funds, according to Binance.
Tigran’s supporters claim he is being used as a pawn in a negotiation game with foreign powers.
The wife of Tigran, Yuki Gambaryan, started a change.org petition calling on the US State Department, the US President, the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Government of Nigeria to free her husband. In her version of events, she explains that her husband was invited by the Nigerian government for a policy meeting, where he was to represent his employer. Tigran flew in from Suwanee, Georgia with a small traveler’s bag, without the intention to stay for more than two days. She says he has been detained “as they work up bogus charges,” and claims that his living conditions have “worsened significantly.”
According to his wife, Tigran is responsible for bringing down “some of history’s most notorious cyber criminals, including drug dealers, human traffickers, and money launderers.” She notes that he was mentioned in Andy Greenberg’s book Tracers in the Dark for his work in helping “retriev[e] millions of dollars for the US government.” He played a significant role in exposing the infamous Alphabay dark web market and helped bring a corrupt DEA official who stole millions in crypto to justice.
Yuki explains that Tigran was trained by the EFCC in cybercrime fighting tactics. These same EFCC officials are behind his detention. She says that since Tigran was responsible for helping seize over $2.2 billion in fraudulent crypto funds, it is darkly ironic that “deeply ironic” that he is being charged with such crimes. “My husband is an innocent man, a pawn in someone else’s game,” she wrote.
“What has made this situation worse is that our government, the US government, has not made any progress to bring my husband home,” she continued. “In fact, as of 3rd April, representatives from the US embassy in Nigeria have not even visited him for over 12 days.” A State Department official had visited Gambaryan and Anjarwalla had been visited by a UK foreign office representative as of late March.
At that time, Yuki said she and their relatives were contacting the US government with pleas to get Tigran home. Yuki notes that the US, according to the State Department, had invested a total of $5.6 billion in Nigeria in 2022, proving the US government has the leverage needed.
“While it is inappropriate for us to comment on the substance of the claims at this time, we can say that we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to bring Nadeem and Tigran back home safely to their families,” a Binance spokesperson told WIRED in March. “They are professionals with the highest integrity and we will provide them all the support we can. We trust there will be a swift resolution to this matter.”
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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