tl;dr
Binance CEO Richard Teng has called for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, head of the exchange's Financial Crime Compliance team, who has been detained by the Nigerian government for over 70 days. Teng stated that Gambaryan's detention sets a dangerous precedent for companies worldwide. Despite assur...
Binance CEO Richard Teng has advocated for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, head of the exchange’s Financial Crime Compliance team, who has been detained by the Nigerian government for over 70 days. Gambaryan reportedly flew to the country in February for talks on collaborative policy meetings, only to be detained later. This move by the Nigerian authorities has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide, Teng said in his statement.
In the latest blog post, the Binance CEO said Gambaryan didn’t travel to Nigeria to make decisions or negotiate. He was there solely as an expert in financial crime, contributing to policy discussions and capacity building. Teng said the arrests were made despite Nigerian authorities’ assurances that they would be granted safe passage for their meetings. Apart from Gambaryan, the exchange’s African regional manager, Nadeem Anjarwalla, was also arrested in February after arriving for a meeting that involved the SEC CEO, the deputy governor of the central bank, and the national security adviser, as reported by Teng.
Binance reportedly took proactive steps, reaching out to Nigeria’s SEC multiple times to seek guidance and offering to collaborate with local authorities for consultation in 2022. The following year, the SEC issued a cease and desist order against the exchange. However, the circular targeted “Binance Nigeria Limited,” a separate entity not affiliated with Binance. Despite this, Binance suspended all solicitation activities in the African country. While Teng acknowledged that the firm repeatedly sought to cooperate with the SEC, it received no response from the regulator.
Binance had sought to cooperate with the Nigerian SEC but received no response. Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were detained during a public hearing and accused of economic issues and terrorism financing. Anjarwalla was released, but Gambaryan remains detained. Binance has suspended naira trading and P2P services in Nigeria. Binance CEO Richard Teng has advocated for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, head of the crypto exchange’s Financial Crime Compliance team, who has been detained by the Nigerian government for over 70 days. Gambaryan reportedly flew to the country in February for talks on collaborative policy meetings, only to be detained later. This move by the Nigerian authorities has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide, Teng said in his statement.
Binance had sought to cooperate with the Nigerian SEC but received no response. Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were detained during a public hearing and accused of economic issues and terrorism financing. Anjarwalla was released, but Gambaryan remains detained. Binance has suspended naira trading and P2P services in Nigeria.
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