When Tigran Gambaryan was first invited to a meeting with the Nigerian government in February to resolve a dispute with his employer, cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Nigerian officials detained him against his will, took his passport and told him he was a “guest” of the state. He has since been charged with financial crimes and sentenced to several months in prison as a criminal suspect.
Pressure is growing in the US Congress for the Biden administration to treat him as his supporters say: as a hostage held illegally by an irresponsible foreign state.
“The continued detention of Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria is a clear violation of his rights, and he is being used as a tool of extortion by the Nigerian government,” McCormick said in a statement. “We call on Nigeria to immediately release Tigran and provide him with the medical care and due process he needs. The United States government must do everything in its power to secure the release of Tigran Gambaryan and all of our citizens wrongfully detained abroad.”
McCormick’s decision to press for Gambaryan’s release follows an earlier decision an open letter from 16 members of Congress urging the White House to refer Gambaryan’s case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Issues. The letter noted that Gambaryan suffered from malaria and pneumonia, fainted in court during one day of his trial, and was still denied adequate hospital care. “Gambaryan’s health and well-being are at risk and we fear for his life,” the letter reads. “Immediate action is essential to ensure his safety and save his life. We must act quickly before it is too late.” Two members of the House of Representatives, French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan, visited Gambaryan in prison last month and also called for his release.
Gambaryan and another Binance employee, Nadeem Anjarwalla, flew to Abuja in behind schedule February at the invitation of the Nigerian government after officials accused Binance, where Gambaryan works as head of financial crimes investigations and compliance, of money laundering and contributing to the devaluation of the country’s currency, the naira. But just days after negotiations began, both men were detained against their will in a government “guest house.”
Things escalated further when Anjarwalla, who lives in Kenya, absconded while visiting a mosque for Ramadan prayers. Gambaryan was subsequently charged with tax evasion and money laundering — charges that appear to relate to Binance’s conduct, not Gambaryan personally — and transferred to Kuje Prison, where he remains to this day.
The charges against Gambaryan are especially ironic given his past as a federal agent. Before he was hired by Binance, which was widely seen as part of the exchange’s efforts to spotless up its operations for penniless compliance and years of alleged money laundering documented in a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. government last year, Gambaryan spent a decade leading some of the most vital crypto crime investigations in history. For example, from 2014 to 2017, Gambaryan identified two corrupt federal agents who got rich with Silk Road cryptocurrency murky web drug marketplace, helped track down half a billion dollars worth of bitcoin stolen from early cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, helped develop a secret cryptocurrency tracking method that located the server hosting the massive murky web crime marketplace AlphaBay, and helped take down the cryptocurrency-funded child sex abuse video network Welcome to Video.
Gambaryan’s supporters point out that his work for the IRS led to the seizure of more than $4 billion, including some of the largest cash seizures in U.S. criminal justice history. “He’s done so much good for this country throughout his career,” Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki, told WIRED in March. “I think it’s his turn to get the same support from his country.”