According to a document shared by Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, several US politicians, including Michael McCaul, Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, have written to President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Hostage Affairs envoy Roger Carstens, requesting the transfer of the case of Tigran Gambaryan, the compliance chief of Binance, who is detained by the Nigerian government, to the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs to ensure his safety.
Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, were invited by the Nigerian government in February this year to attend a high-level meeting on compliance issues with Binance in the country. However, the government later accused the exchange of destabilizing the country’s currency and detained these two Binance executives.
In a letter issued by 12 US politicians on Tuesday (4th), Gambaryan was accused of multiple “unfounded” crimes, including money laundering and tax evasion. They believe this is part of Nigeria’s extortion strategy against Binance. The letter also mentioned that Gambaryan tested positive for malaria and as of June 4th, the court order to transfer him to a private hospital for treatment has not been fully complied with by the prison authorities, nor has it ensured that Gambaryan receives proper medical care.
These politicians emphasized that Gambaryan is still “illegally detained” by the Nigerian government and action must be taken immediately before the situation worsens. The letter stated:
Before joining Binance, Gambaryan was a federal agent with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for over ten years. According to reports, the Nigerian court is scheduled to conduct cross-examination and trial on his case on June 20th and 21st.
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