{"id":15211,"date":"2024-10-23T12:36:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T12:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15211"},"modified":"2024-10-23T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T13:25:10","slug":"binance-employee-in-custody-for-8-months-in-nigeria-will-be-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15211","title":{"rendered":"Binance Employee, in Custody for 8 Months in Nigeria, Will Be Released"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">Prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against Tigran Gambaryan so he can receive medical care, a government spokesman said.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nigerian officials said on Wednesday they were preparing to release Tigran Gambaryan, an American who has been imprisoned there as part a criminal case against the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, after prosecutors dropped charges against him of money laundering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dele Oyewale, a government spokesman, said Mr. Gambaryan was being released on humanitarian grounds after significant declines in his health. Mr. Gambaryan had malaria and dealt with issues stemming from a herniated disk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTigran Gambaryan\u2019s release is necessary for him to receive urgent medical care outside Nigeria, given his worsening health condition,\u201d Mr. Oyewale said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gambaryan, a former U.S. law enforcement officer, was working for Binance, the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange, when he was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/18\/technology\/binance-crypto-compliance-officer-nigerian-prison.html\" title>arrested<\/a> in Nigeria in February and accused of money laundering and tax evasion as part of a sweeping investigation into the company. He was transferred to Nigeria\u2019s notorious Kuje Prison from a government-owned guesthouse in April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a court hearing on Wednesday, Nigerian prosecutors dropped the charges against Mr. Gambaryan, according to a court employee, Ahmad Danyaro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hearing was held without any public notice, Mr. Danyaro said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTigran Gambaryan was merely an employee of the cryptocurrency firm and had no involvement in the alleged offenses committed by the company,\u201d R.U. Adaba, a lawyer for Nigeria\u2019s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said in an interview after the hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Gambaryan had traveled to Nigeria to meet with local officials about Binance\u2019s business dealings in the country. Nigerian authorities said Binance had harmed the nation\u2019s economy by allowing users to transfer funds out of the local currency, the naira, causing it to collapse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nigeria is in the throes of its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/11\/world\/africa\/nigeria-economy-strike.html\" title>worst economic crisis in a generation<\/a>, and government officials have blamed the turmoil on the rise of cryptocurrencies. The Nigerian government made its allegations against Binance shortly after the company agreed to a $4.3 billion <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/21\/technology\/binance-changpeng-zhao-pleads-guilty.html\" title>settlement<\/a> with a group of U.S. regulators that had accused it of facilitating money laundering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In November, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/30\/technology\/binance-founder-changpeng-zhao-sentenced.html\" title>Binance\u2019s founder<\/a>, Changpeng Zhao, stepped down as chief executive and pleaded guilty to a money laundering violations. He was sentenced in April to four months in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against Tigran Gambaryan so he can receive medical care, a government spokesman said.Nigerian officials said on Wednesday they were preparing to release Tigran Gambaryan, an American who has been imprisoned there as part a criminal case against the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, after prosecutors dropped charges against him of money laundering.Dele Oyewale, a government spokesman, said Mr. Gambaryan was being released on humanitarian grounds after significant declines in his health. Mr. Gambaryan had malaria and dealt with issues stemming from a herniated disk.\u201cTigran Gambaryan\u2019s release is necessary for him to receive urgent medical care outside Nigeria, given his worsening health condition,\u201d Mr. Oyewale said in an interview.Mr. Gambaryan, a former U.S. law enforcement officer, was working for Binance, the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange, when he was arrested in Nigeria in February and accused of money laundering and tax evasion as part of a sweeping investigation into the company. He was transferred to Nigeria\u2019s notorious Kuje Prison from a government-owned guesthouse in April.In a court hearing on Wednesday, Nigerian prosecutors dropped the charges against Mr. Gambaryan, according to a court employee, Ahmad Danyaro.The hearing was held without any public notice, Mr. Danyaro said.\u201cTigran Gambaryan was merely an employee of the cryptocurrency firm and had no involvement in the alleged offenses committed by the company,\u201d R.U. Adaba, a lawyer for Nigeria\u2019s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said in an interview after the hearing.Mr. Gambaryan had traveled to Nigeria to meet with local officials about Binance\u2019s business dealings in the country. Nigerian authorities said Binance had harmed the nation\u2019s economy by allowing users to transfer funds out of the local currency, the naira, causing it to collapse.Nigeria is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in a generation, and government officials have blamed the turmoil on the rise of cryptocurrencies. The Nigerian government made its allegations against Binance shortly after the company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with a group of U.S. regulators that had accused it of facilitating money laundering.In November, Binance\u2019s founder, Changpeng Zhao, stepped down as chief executive and pleaded guilty to a money laundering violations. He was sentenced in April to four months in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15213,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15211"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15214,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15211\/revisions\/15214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}