Binance CEO Richard Teng is demanding the release of a top executive jailed in Nigeria for alleged money laundering crimes.
In a new Binance blog post, Teng calls on Nigerian authorities to release Tigran Gambaryan, head of the cryptocurrency exchange’s Financial Crime Compliance team, who has been held for more than 70 days.
Gambaryan was arrested in February after flying to the country to take part in regulatory talks.
Following Gambaryan’s release, Teng promises that Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, will work with Nigerian authorities to resolve alleged potential outstanding tax debts.
Says Teng,
“Let Tigran go home to his family, and then Binance will go through the same process that we have voluntarily done with the Nigerian law enforcement community over 600 times in the past. We will always work to protect innocent users, and bad actors are not welcome on our platform. We will work tirelessly with public and private partners to remove them. In addition, we will continue our collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in resolving potential historical tax liabilities.
It remains unclear to me why this is not a solution that Nigerian government officials are willing to agree to. The Nigerian government has extraordinary power to determine the future of Binance and the broader crypto industry within its borders.
Ultimately, Binance wants to have a future where we work together with the Nigerian government to be part of building a strong economy for the Nigerian people. But this crisis must be resolved quickly, and Tigran must be allowed to go home if we want to make progress.”
In March, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed several charges against Binance, Gambaryan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, the regional manager for the crypto exchange’s African operations.
The charges included “operating without the required license, unlawfully negotiating exchange rates, tax evasion and concealing the source of illegal proceeds and earnings of $35.4 million.”
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