Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, issued a clarification on the arrest of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria. He said that Gambaryan has dedicated his career to fighting financial crime, but now he has been detained by the Nigerian government for more than 70 days on trumped-up charges.
On April 25, at Gambaryan's bail hearing, the EFCC prosecutor told the court: "The first defendant (Binance) is a virtual operation. The only defendant we want to catch is this defendant (Gambaryan)." The message from the Nigerian government is clear: In order to control Binance, we must detain an innocent mid-level employee and a former US federal agent and put him in a dangerous prison.
This ordeal has been very painful for Tigran, his family and friends, and the entire Binance community. In order to dispel any doubts about our role in the country's currency crisis and as a gesture of goodwill, I made the difficult decision earlier this month to close our Nigeria P2P products on the Binance platform and end the Naira trading pairs of all spot trading products on the Binance platform.
When this extreme measure was taken, our hope was that our colleague would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, this did not happen. We will continue to support Tigran in every way we can. That support is unwavering.
Let Tigran return home to his family, and then Binance will work through the procedures we have voluntarily worked with Nigerian law enforcement over 600 times in the past. We will always be committed to protecting innocent users, and bad actors are not welcome on our platform. We will work tirelessly with government and private sector partners to eliminate these threats. In addition, we will continue to work with the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to resolve potential historical tax liabilities.
It remains unclear to me why Nigerian government officials still do not agree to this solution. The Nigerian government has extraordinary power to determine the future of Binance and the broader crypto industry within its borders. Ultimately, Binance wants a future that works with the Nigerian government as part of building a strong economy for the Nigerian people. But this crisis must be resolved quickly, and Tigran must be allowed to return home if we are to move forward.
Earlier news, according to a spokesperson for Tigran Gambaryan's family, the trial of Binance's money laundering case in Nigeria will be postponed to May 17. It is reported that Tigran Gambaryan is currently waiting for a bail hearing in Kuje Prison. The trial was originally scheduled for today, but has now been postponed.
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