Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive, has finally shared what happened during his time in Nigerian detention.
Speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit on March 26, he said the Nigerian government didn’t just arrest him, they held him hostage. According to him, the charges of tax evasion and money laundering were just an excuse. “Before that, they kinda saw me as an asset they could use to get their billions out of Binance,” he said.
He first saw signs of his possible release about a month before it happened, around the time of the United Nations General Assembly in 2024, when international pressure on Nigeria started increasing.
Gambaryan, who works as Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, arrived in Nigeria on February 25, 2024, with fellow executive Nadeem Anjarwalla. They were invited to discuss Binance’s operations in the country.
But just one day later, Nigerian authorities arrested both of them. Officials accused Binance of allowing suspicious financial transactions, and they charged the executives with money laundering. Gambaryan said he had no idea this was coming.
Things got worse when he was denied bail and sent to Kuje Prison. The conditions were rough, and his health started to decline. He caught pneumonia and malaria and suffered from a herniated disc. In September, a video surfaced showing him struggling to walk in court. This shocked many people and sparked outrage among supporters.
Meanwhile, Binance decided to stop all services using Nigeria’s currency, the naira. The company pulled out of Nigeria completely. Despite this, the Nigerian authorities kept holding Gambaryan. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his detention dragged on for months.
Many U.S. lawmakers and international organizations started demanding his release. Finally, on October 23, 2024, after growing diplomatic pressure, he was sent back to the United States.
At the DC Blockchain Summit, Gambaryan didn’t hold back his frustration. “Hopefully, those that did this will one day face justice,” he said. His family had been fighting for months to get him out, worried about his health and the fairness of his detention.
The Nigerian government, however, denies all of his claims. On March 13, the country’s Ministry of Information released a statement calling his accusations “baseless” and “without merit.” They have not responded further.
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