Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial crime compliance at Binance Holdings Ltd., attends court in Abuja, Nigeria, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Gambaryan was accused alongside the company of charges including non-payment of value-added-tax and company in (Getty Images)
Crypto executive Tigran Gambaryan has been released from a Nigerian prison and is back in the U.S. following a high-profile pressure campaign by current and former government officials, members of Congress and state attorneys general who urged the Biden Administration to intervene on his behalf.
It’s unclear how much of a priority Gambaryan’s release was for the White House, but on Tuesday afternoon, President Biden held a call with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, expressing gratitude for his leadership in securing Gambaryan’s release. Last week, Nigerian officials dropped money laundering charges against the executive, allowing for his humanitarian release to seek medical treatment for worsening health issues.
Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and former IRS agent who now serves as the chief compliance officer for global crypto exchange Binance, spent eight months in Nigeria’s Kuje prison after being arrested and charged with money laundering and tax evasion while traveling to the African nation on behalf of his employer.
The Nigerian government says it will proceed with the money laundering and tax evasion charges against Binance (which it denies) without Gambaryan.
Sean Reyes, Utah attorney general, speaks during a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. A group of 50 attorneys general opened a broad investigation into whether advertising practices of Alpha (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Gambaryan has not given an official statement to the press, but in an exchange with FOX Business via direct messages on X, he said his top priority is reconnecting with his family—a wife and two young children—as well as dealing with health issues. While in prison, Gambaryan suffered from malaria, pneumonia and complications from a herniated disc, which left him in a wheelchair.
Earlier this month, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and seventeen other state Attorneys General, including New York AG Letitia James, signed a bipartisan letter to Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asking them to designate Gambaryan as a hostage pursuant to the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND RETURN OF CRYPTO EXECUTIVE DETAINED BY NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
Representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in front of displayed Binance logo in this illustration taken November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
