Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan has been held captive in a Nigerian prison since February. A group of over 100 ex-US prosecutors are demanding the government to step up to free him.
Gambaryan, Binance’s Compliance Head, was arrested in Nigeria along with his colleague Nadeem Anjanwalla after their meeting with government officials went awry. Anjanwalla managed to escape prison and flee the country, but Gambaryan remains arrested.
Nigerian officials detained both executives on false pretexts of Binance indulging in money laundering in their jurisdiction. While no proof exists, this action is perceived as an extortion attempt. Contacts from the Nigerian government allegedly demanded a bribe of $150 million in crypto to settle the money laundering charges against Binance when Gambaryan visited the country previously in January alongside other representatives from the firm.
Nevertheless, they fled Nigeria that month,…
