The situation suddenly escalated! The US government "pressed" to release Binance executives. Blinken, diplomatic ambassadors and Congress were shocked

FX168 Financial News Agency (Asia Pacific) reported that Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been detained in Nigeria since February. He is a US citizen and former IRS agent. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken privately pressured to release him, diplomatic ambassadors met with the Nigerian presidential cabinet, and members of Congress submitted a resolution calling for the incident to be characterized as a "hostage".

The New York Times reported that US State Department diplomats have been privately pressuring Nigerian officials to release the detained Gambaryan since at least June 2024.

Source: New York Times

According to US media, Ganbayan's imprisonment is a "significant factor" in the tension between the two countries. Blinken and US Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills have been pressuring Nigerian officials to resolve the issue.

In September 2024, Ambassador Mills met with the cabinet of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to further discuss the issue and promote the release of Ganbayan, which the Nigerian Attorney General insisted would only happen after the trial.

Bola pointed out that Mills met with the President's Chief of Staff, National Security Advisor and other officials in September.

"Negotiations are ongoing," Bola said. "The government will make every effort to abide by the law while also taking into account Ganbayan's humanitarian rights."

Ganbayan's lawyers also pleaded with the US State Department to characterize Ganbayan as "wrongly detained" to further exert political pressure on Nigeria to force it to release the detained executive. US State Department officials said the move was not impossible.

In July, U.S. Representative Rich McCormick submitted a resolution to Congress calling for Gambayan's detention to be characterized as a "hostage" incident. At the time, Rep. McCormick claimed that the Nigerian government was holding Gambayan for no reason in order to extort money from cryptocurrency exchanges.

U.S. diplomatic officials viewed Gambayan's detention as a humanitarian issue and pointed to Gambayan's deteriorating health as the main reason for his release.

On September 2, Gambayan's lawyers filed a new bail motion, saying their client needed to be released to seek medical assistance. Gambayan's health had deteriorated rapidly for all to see, with a herniated disc in his back requiring specialized surgery, and multiple bouts of pneumonia, malaria, and throat infections.

Nigerian prison officials have also been criticized for their neglect of Gambarian.

The neglect reached a peak in July when a warrant was issued for the arrest of Abraham Ehizojie, a doctor at Kuje Prison, for failing to appear in court or produce Gambarian's mandatory medical reports.

Gambayan reportedly traveled to Nigeria in February to hold meetings with local officials to discuss Binance's business dealings in the country. Nigerian authorities say Binance has hurt the country's economy by allowing users to transfer funds out of the local currency, the naira, causing the naira to collapse.

Nigerian prosecutors have accused Gambayan and Binance itself of tax evasion and money laundering. The tax charges against Gambayan have been dropped, but other charges remain in effect. Binance has denied the allegations and argued that Gambayan was a mid-level employee who should not be held responsible for the company's actions.

Nigeria's charges against Binance came shortly after the company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with some U.S. agencies, which accused Binance of facilitating money laundering. In November 2023, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) resigned as CEO and pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Gambayan, a former criminal investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department, was one of the first U.S. law enforcement officials to take a keen interest in cryptocurrency cases. He joined Binance in 2021 to help run its compliance operations and meet with law enforcement officials around the world investigating cryptocurrency crimes.

During one of these meetings, he was arrested. A few weeks later, Gambayan was transferred to Kuje Prison in Abuja, a notorious prison that has also held members of the Islamic State and Boko Haram.

In Kuje Prison, Gambayan has been suffering from illness, according to his family. He has suffered from malaria and pneumonia and is now bedridden with a herniated disk. The condition has plagued him for a decade, but he was able to keep it under control before his arrest.

A person close to Nigeria's president said local officials believe the United States has interfered with the country's judicial process. The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Nigerian officials do not see this as a humanitarian issue.

Nigeria has long been a close ally of the United States, and the United States works with Nigerian officials to combat terrorist financing and violent extremism, according to a fact sheet on the U.S. State Department website. Nigeria is also the United States' second-largest trading partner in Africa and received $1.2 billion in U.S. aid in fiscal 2022.

Senior Nigerian officials are expected to travel to New York later in September for the United Nations General Assembly, and Gambayan's wife, Yuki, said in an interview this week that she would be "very unhappy if the U.S. government welcomed Nigerian representatives with open arms."