Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

FG Drops Money Laundering Charges Against Binance Executive – Ravenewsonline

Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan
Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan

Federal government has withdrawn the money laundering charges filed against Binance executive, Gambaryan Tigran.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the withdrawal of the charges during a hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday,October 23.

During the hearing of the matter today, the EFCC’s lawyer explained that Mr. Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, was merely an employee of Binance and not directly involved in the activities for which he was being prosecuted.

Mark Mordi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Gambaryan’s defense attorney, agreed, stating that his client had no involvement in the broader financial decisions of the company.

The unexpected decision to drop the charges followed months of behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts between Nigerian and U.S. officials, who had been lobbying for Mr. Gambaryan’s release. U.S. lawmakers had also advocated for his freedom, appealing to both Nigerian and American authorities. Despite this, Mr. Gambaryan had been denied bail twice, with the judge ruling him a flight risk.

Binance, its U.S. head of financial crime compliance, Gambaryan, and the exchange British-Kenyan regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were facing money laundering charges to the tune of $35 million brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Anjarwalla, however, fled lawful custody on March 22, 2024, while his counterpart, Gambaryan, was arraigned in April.

Following his arraignment, the court ordered his remand to Kuje Correctional Facility.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ad

You May Also Like

News

With progress made in accelerating financial inclusion to unbanked and underbanked communities in Nigeria, the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities Limited (SANEF) has posited...

News

European Commission has imposed landmark fines on tech giants Apple and Meta in the first enforcement actions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a...

Tech

Meta has announced new measures to tackle spammy content on Facebook, aiming to enhance the Feed experience and support authentic creators. These updates are...

News

Nigerians have lost N4.8 trillion ($2.99 billion) to various scams since 2016, according to findings by Paul Alaje, a prominent Nigerian economist and chief...