Nigeria Detains Binance Executive On Tax Evasion

One of the two Binance Executives, from the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, who was detained in Nigeria, made an appearance in an Abuja court on Thursday to face charges related to tax evasion and money laundering.

Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, along with Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan serving as a regional manager for Africa, have been accused of four counts of tax evasion and laundering over $35 million.

The executives were taken into custody on February 26 as part of a criminal investigation into Binance’s operations in Nigeria upon their arrival in the country. While Anjarwalla managed to escape and flee the country, Gambaryan faced the charges for the first time during his court appearance. He did not enter a plea and is scheduled to be formally charged for money laundering and tax offenses on April 8 and 19, respectively.

Read: Binance executive detained in Nigeria in crypto case escapes custody

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Although Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has not pressed charges against Binance itself, they have contended that Gambaryan may be held accountable for the exchange’s actions. However, Gambaryan’s lawyer objected, stating that he had no official role within Binance to represent the company in legal matters.

In court, it was argued that Gambaryan could not enter a plea until Binance, as the primary defendant, had been served according to Nigerian law. While Binance was not present in court and did not provide immediate comment, they expressed a desire for Gambaryan, who lacked decision-making authority within the company, to be excluded from responsibility while engaging in ongoing discussions with the Nigerian government.

Gambaryan has petitioned a Nigerian court for his release. Nigeria has attributed its currency challenges to Binance as cryptocurrency platforms became popular for trading the Nigerian naira amidst a persistent shortage of dollars in the country.

Binance, is a global company that operates the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high-frequency trading software.