According to DL News, Tigran Gambaryan, the compliance chief of Binance, who was detained by the Nigerian government, pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges on Monday (8th) and was remanded in custody awaiting trial.
Gambaryan’s lawyer argued that his client should not be held responsible for Binance’s activities in African countries because he did not have decision-making power in the company’s operations. However, Judge Emeka Nwite rejected Gambaryan’s argument and ruled that he had previously traveled to Nigeria as a representative of Binance to train officials in cryptocurrency fraud detection.
Gambaryan will be detained until at least April 18th, when a hearing will be held to determine if he can be granted bail.
In the past week or so, Gambaryan went from being under house arrest without any charges to facing five charges and a total of $35 million in money laundering indictments in prison, and Binance also faces the same charges.
Gambaryan and Binance also face tax evasion charges filed by the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service. The trial proceedings have been scheduled to begin on May 2nd.
Related reports: “Wall Street Journal: Should Binance be held accountable for Nigeria’s currency crisis?” and “Nigeria brings four criminal charges against Binance, detained executives have fled by plane.”
