Binance has urged FG not to hold Gambaryan responsible for their operations in Nigeria.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that a cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has said its Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, should not be held responsible for its operations in Nigeria.
In a statement yesterday, a Binance spokesperson said Gambaryan is neither a part of the management nor holds a decision-making power.
On February 28, Gambaryan, and Binance’s regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were detained by the Nigerian authorities.
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Although Anjarwalla has escaped from the custody of the Office of the national security adviser (ONSA), the two executives, alongside Binance, are expected to be charged to court today by the Federal Government for tax evasion and money laundering.
Binance said Gambaryan, an American citizen known globally as someone fully dedicated to law enforcement, was hired in 2021 to help Binance fix past compliance issues.
“As the head of Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team, he has been a strong advocate for Binance to develop policies and build compliance capabilities that set new industry standards.
“In 2022 and 2023, Tigran’s financial crime compliance team assisted global law enforcement in freezing and seizing more than $2.2 billion worth of assets, including more than $285 million in cooperation with United States agencies, like the FBI, DOJ, DEA, and others.
“In the past several years, he, along with his FCC team, responded to more than 600 information requests from Nigerian law enforcement agencies or related to investigations pertinent to Nigeria.
“The information provided helped tackle crimes ranging from scams and fraud to money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion, leading to multiple asset freezes and seizures, totalling more than $400,000,” Binance said.
It also said Gambaryan’s team provided multiple training sessions for Nigerian security agencies on the role of exchanges in the digital-asset ecosystem.
This, the firm said, included a three-hour online workshop for 70 officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in mid-2023 and, late last year, two full-day sessions for the commission’s officials in Abuja and Lagos, with more than 30 investigators attending each of them.
“Tigran is a strict law enforcement professional and is not part of Binance management.
“While he has left official service of the U.S. Government, he has remained fully committed to the role of law enforcement officer ever since, operating as a global advocate for good governance and transparent regulatory financial practices.
“Binance respectfully requests that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, is not held responsible while current discussions are ongoing between Binance and Nigerian government officials,” Binance added.
