Nigeria Drops Charges Against Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian government has dropped all charges against Mr Tigran Gambaryan, an executive at Binance Holdings Plc, who has been detained in the country since February.

The withdrawal was announced by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Federal High Court in Abuja Wednesday morning.

Announcing the withdrawal of the charges, the lawyer said Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.

This comes two days before the set trial date of Friday, October 25.

On his part, Mr Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) representing Mr Gambaryan, agreed with the prosecution, saying that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.

This development comes with the US government’s constant dialogue with the Nigerian government to get the Binance executive released. He was seized alongside another colleague when they came for a dialogue with the federal government in late February.

Justice Emeka Nwite had rejected Mr Gambaryan’s second bail application on October 11, ruling that Mr Gambaryan’s grounds of ill health were not sufficient to release him from detention.

The judge then fixed October 18 for the continuation of the trial but Mr Gambaryan was surprisingly absent, forcing the case to be rescheduled the trial for October 25.

But the latest development means Mr Gambaryan, who has been held at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja since his arraignment in April, will regain his freedom after five months.

He is standing trial alongside Binance, a cryptocurrency company, on five counts of money laundering and currency speculation involving as much as $34.4 million.

Binance is facing tax evasion charges in a separate case before another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In May, the court denied the Binance executive’s bail application, judging him a flight risk.

The court’s decision in May came about two months after Mr Gambaryan’s colleague, Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla, reportedly escaped from the custody of the National Security Adviser (NSA) in Abuja in March.