- Tigran Gambaryan, ailing and imprisoned, finally got help from a senior US official.
- A key US House committee also took action to have the Binance man designated as 'wrongfully detained.'
- The developments may throw the case into a new phase.
Tigran Gambaryan just got some serious diplomatic help.
Ever since the Binance executive was incarcerated in Nigeria in March, his family and colleagues have implored the Biden Administration to help get him released and back home to the US.
After months of frustration, the 40-year-old compliance man got a lift this week when Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, took up his cause.
As the UN General Assembly met this week in New York, Thomas-Greenfield told Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, that resolving Gambaryan’s plight was important for US relations with Africa’s most populous nation.
The ambassador called for Gambaryan’s “immediate release,” according to a statement from her office.
‘Wrongfully detained’
Moreover, the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday approved a resolution urging the White House to designate Gambaryan a “citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government.”
Imprisoned in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, Gambaryan has suffered from a string of maladies, including malaria and pneumonia.
Richard McCormick, the Republican congressman from Gambaryan’s home state of Georgia, and fellow Republican French Hill of Arkansas, sponsored the resolution in July.
“All the support Tigran has been getting is proof of how brilliant he is and shows how truly unjust the situation is,” Gambaran’s wife, Yuki, told DL News via a statement from a family spokesperson.
“I want to thank all the people, including all the members of Congress, that have shown up for him and I want to keep calling on the US government to do everything they can to have an innocent American released from unlawful detention.”
Money laundering charges
She also begged Nigeria’s government to release her husband.
While the resolution is not as powerful as a bill, it signals the lawmakers’ intention to push the State Department to designate Tigran as a hostage.
The resolution, if approved by the House of Representatives, could begin the process of the White House and State Department seeking a diplomatic solution to Gambaryan’s prolonged incarceration.
Gambaryan has been detained in Nigeria since February and was charged with money laundering and currency manipulation amounting to $35 million alongside his employer.
Both Binance and Gambaryan have denied the charges.
Gambaryan is being held in Kuje Prison pending the outcome of the trial.
Earlier this month, his lawyers pressed for bail a second time citing the Binance executive’s failing health. The presiding judge Justice Emeka Nwite delayed the ruling on the bail application to October 9.
Horrible conditions
Gambaryan’s physical condition has visibly deteriorated during his stint in jail. He has suffered multiple ailments including malaria and pneumonia and slumped in court at the start of the trial in May.
The prison conditions described as “horrible” by Representative Hill during a visit to Nigeria in June have also exacerbated a preexisting back condition that has left Gambaryan with limited mobility.
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.
