Binance executive suddenly detained

Author: wsj and wired ;Compiled by: Qin Jin, Carbon Chain Value

On March 12, according to the Wall Street Journal, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, accused Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, of It took matters to a new level by causing its currency to collapse and detaining two of its top executives.

Reports indicate that Binance’s financial crimes compliance director and former IRS agent Tigran Gambaryan and Binance colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla were detained on February 26. The two men flew to Nigeria to meet with officials but have not yet been charged.

According to "Wired" magazine, Tigran Gambaryan and another Binance colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla have been detained in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, for two weeks.

During his time as a U.S. federal agent, Tigran Gambaryan helped lead landmark investigations that took down cryptocurrency thieves and money launderers, dark web drug dealers, and even Cryptocurrency-funded child exploitation networks. Now, after he stepped down from his role at cryptocurrency exchange Binance, he himself has become the target of a very different kind of federal cryptocurrency crackdown: Over the past two weeks, he and another Binance executive were forcibly detained by Nigerian officials.

Since February 26, Gambarya, currently the head of Binance’s criminal investigation team, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa manager in Kenya, have been stripped of their passports and He was detained at a government property in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Neither man has been informed of any criminal charges against them, according to their families. The pair appeared to be caught up in Nigeria's sweeping move to ban cryptocurrency exchanges amid a sharp depreciation of the country's currency, the Financial Times first reported. Although they were detained, their identities were not disclosed.

Gambaryan's wife, Yuki Gambaryan, said there were no definite answers: what was happening to him, what would become of him, when he would return. It pains me not to know this.

Gambaryan is a U.S. citizen, and Anjarwalla has dual British and Kenyan citizenship. Their families stated that they arrived in Abuja on February 25 at the invitation of the Nigerian government. to resolve disputes with Binance. The next day, they met with Nigerian officials, intending to speak to the government about the country's telecom companies banning access to Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges, with regulators accusing Binance of devaluing Nigeria's official currency, the naira, and causing funds to " illegal movement".

However, according to their families, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken to a hotel and asked to pack their bags shortly after their first meeting with the Nigerian government. , and was transferred to a "hotel" managed by the Nigerian National Security Agency. It has been two weeks since officials confiscated their passports and held them against their will in the house.

Their family members said that an official from the U.S. State Department visited Gambaryan and a representative from the British Foreign Office visited Anjarwalla, but Nigerian government guards were also present to prevent them. They talk privately.

When wired contacted Binance, a spokesperson declined to comment on the charges against the individuals or the company itself, or potential requests from the Nigerian government for their release. Comment. A Binance spokesperson told Wired: While we are unable to comment on the substance of the allegations at this time, we can say that we are working with the Nigerian authorities to bring Nadeem and Tigran safely home to their families. They are professionals of the highest integrity, and we will provide them with all the support we can. We are confident that this matter will be resolved quickly.

Last week, after Anjarwalla fell ill, the two were transferred to a local hospital. His exact symptoms are unclear, but they may be malaria, according to his wife. However, he later recovered and the two were returned to the Nigerian Government House, where they have been held ever since.

For Gambaryan, becoming an apparent pawn in the dispute between Binance and a disgruntled government is an ironic turn of events. Gambaryan was a high-profile hire in 2021 to lead Binance’s investigative team, which was widely seen as an effort to clean up the exchange’s flow of dark money, better comply with regulations, and work more closely with law enforcement. At the end of November last year, Binance agreed to a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors, paying a record $4.3 billion settlement for alleged money laundering and accepting strict scrutiny from U.S. regulators.

Before taking the position at Binance, Gambaryan served as an agent in the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Division and had a huge influence in the law enforcement community due to his pioneering Known for its record of cryptocurrency cases. For example, from 2014 to 2017 alone, Gambaryan led an investigation into two corrupt federal agents who stole cryptocurrency from the Silk Road darknet drug market and sold law enforcement intelligence to its creators, working to track down transactions from the Mt. Gox exchange. The 650,000 Bitcoins stolen helped develop an encrypted tracking technology to find the servers running the large AlphaBay darknet market, and participated in the dismantling of the cryptocurrency-based child sexual abuse material network Welcome to Video.

Will Frentzen, a former prosecutor who worked closely with Gambaryan, said Gambaryan was a "top agent" with "the most integrity" during his time at the IRS-CI . Frentzen said: The case he was involved in was considered the largest cryptocurrency case at the time. He was innovative in his investigations, in a way that few in the country would have imagined, and he was very selfless in who he credited. I don't think anyone has had a greater impact on this type of investigation.

Gambaryan's wife, Yuki, noted that her husband has won support from the U.S. government, which she said now needs help negotiating his freedom. She said: During his career, he did a lot of good things for this country. I believe it is now his turn to receive as much support from his country. She said she did not know what exactly the U.S. State Department or the U.S. Embassy in Abuja had done so far to free him.

Anjarwalla is a government affairs expert at Binance. He graduated from Oxford University and Stanford University and joined the cryptocurrency company a year ago. His wife, Elahe Anjarwalla, wrote in a statement that he was a middle-level manager at Binance and had no decision-making authority. She also said Anjarwalla is a Muslim and is being held during Ramadan; their infant son's first tooth came out in the past two weeks; and their child will celebrate his first birthday next week. Nadeem is a loving husband and father. He's my best friend, she said. I just hope Nadeem can come back to us.

Yuki Gambaryan said: Two people can watch TV or go to the balcony, but Gambaryan described the detention experience to his wife as like "Groundhog Day." I could tell he was trying to stay positive, but it was affecting him greatly. He was getting impatient and despairing.

For Gambaryan's wife herself, anxiety and uncertainty have made the past two weeks the most difficult days of her life. She hasn't told their two young children yet.

Yuki Gambaryan said: Sometimes I feel like I will never see him again. I just begged them to let him go.