- Tigran Gambaryan is on his way home to Georgia, says his wife Yuki.
- Biden Administration senior official pressed Nigeria for 'his immediate release.'
- The ailing Binance compliance executive was detained for eight months on money laundering charges.
Tigran Gambaryan is on his way home to suburban Atlanta.
And it appears the Binance executive has the Biden Administration to thank for finally springing him from a prison cell in Nigeria where he had been incarcerated for months on money laundering charges.
His family said he has left Nigeria for the US.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the US government for their efforts in securing his release,” said Yuki Gambaryan, Tigran’s wife, in a statement sent to DL News.
“It is a huge relief this day has come,” she continued. “The past eight months have been a living nightmare.”
On Wednesday, Nigerian prosecutors dropped the indictment against Gambaryan, 40, whose health had been deteriorating in prison. The case had stemmed from a long-running clash between Binance and the Nigerian government over the exchange’s unlicenced activities in Africa’s most populous nation.
In September, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, buttonholed Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister, during the opening session of the General Assembly in New York.
The ambassador raised the detention of Gambaryan, a US citizen, “stressing the need for his immediate release,” according to a statement from her office released on September 24.
Intervention
Her intervention came after two members of Congress — Representative French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, and Representative Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania — visited Gambaryan in Kuje Prison in June.
They reported that Gambaryan, who was suffering from a herniated disc and the effects of malaria he appeared to contract during his incarceration, was in a deteriorating condition.
“He’s being denied access to adequate medical attention,” Hill said on X.
The next month, Representative Richard McCormick, the Republican lawmaker who represents Gambaryan’s district in Georgia, and Hill filed a resolution with the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, calling for his “immediate release.”
Meanwhile, more details emerged about the surprising hearing that took place in an Abuja court on Wednesday morning.
Gambaryan’s trial on money laundering in connection with $35 million in transactions was expected to commence after numerous delays. Instead, Roseline Adaba, a lawyer for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said the state was withdrawing the charges.
Adaba said the agency had determined that as a Binance employee, Gambaryan did not have decision-making authority at the company, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
“The government has also taken into consideration some critical international and diplomatic reasons [and] seeks to discontinue the case against the second defendant [Gambaryan],” Adaba said in court on Wednesday.
Still, Adaba also clarified that Nigeria’s government didn’t release Gambaryan for lack of evidence in the alleged crimes.
“The major reason we are dropping the charge against Mr. Gambaryan is because of his ill health and some diplomatic intervention,” Adaba said. “It’s not on grounds of insufficient evidence.”
Sole defendant
In any event, Binance is now the sole defendant in the case, which is set to resume on November 22 and 25. Binance has denied the allegations.
On Thursday, Richard Teng, Binance’s CEO, said he and company employees were relieved and grateful Gambaryan had finally been released.
“Throughout this difficult period, Tigran has shown immense strength, and we commend his resilience in the face of such adversity,” Teng said on X.
‘We will continue to monitor his release and work closely with the state department until he is home safe.’
— Rep. Richard McCormick
Since Gambaryan was discharged from court and allowed to return to the US embassy, Nigeria’s local media has been buzzing with reports of behind-the-scenes diplomatic interventions on his behalf.
It wasn’t just legislators in Washington, DC, who threw their support behind Gambaryan, the head of Binance’s financial crimes compliance unit.
Last week, a coalition of 18 US attorneys general petitioned the White House and the State Department to designate Gambaryan a hostage.
‘Very encouraged’
For his part, McCormick welcomed the news.
“I am very encouraged to hear the news that the Nigerian government has dropped all charges and ordered the release of my constituent, Tigran Gambaryan,” the Georgia Republican said in a statement to DL News.
“We will continue to monitor his release and work closely with the state department until he is home safe.”
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. To share tips or information about stories, please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
