The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure to urgently intervene in the case of Tigran Gambaryan, a former U.S. federal agent and executive at Binance, as well as Nadeem Anjarwalla, another Binance executive, who have been detained by the Nigerian government since February 26, 2024, without their passports.
The U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce has made a plea for immediate diplomatic action through a blog post on March 15, leading the charge to address what it sees as a grave injustice. The post highlights the troubling precedent set by Gambaryan’s detention under questionable circumstances, suggesting that any American entrepreneur abroad, particularly those in the cryptocurrency industry, could face similar unlawful actions by foreign authorities. The blog post stresses that Gambaryan’s detention is arbitrary, lacking due process, and poses a significant challenge to international law norms and diplomatic relations.
Nigeria, an ally of the United States and a recipient of over $1 billion in U.S. foreign aid annually, is at the center of this controversy. Initial reports of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla’s apprehension emerged in late February, with the Financial Times covering the detentions without explicitly naming the executives involved.
According to their families, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya, arrived in Abuja on February 25. They traveled to Nigeria in response to an invitation from the government to discuss the ongoing dispute between Binance and the Nigerian government regarding the alleged illegal activities of the cryptocurrency exchange in the country.
The executives reportedly met with Nigerian officials the following day to address the government’s directive to restrict access to Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges for the country’s telecom providers. Nigerian officials attributed the devaluation of the country’s official currency, the naira, and the facilitation of illicit financial flows to crypto exchanges.
However, instead of reaching a resolution, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were escorted to their hotels shortly after the meeting and instructed to gather their belongings. They were then transported to a “guesthouse” managed by Nigeria’s National Security Agency, as confirmed by their families.
The arrests of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla occurred just days before Binance officially announced its exit from Nigeria on March 5.
In summary, the detention of Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla has sparked concerns about the treatment of American entrepreneurs abroad, particularly in the crypto industry. The U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce is leading the charge for urgent diplomatic action to address what it sees as a violation of international law norms and diplomatic relations. Nigeria, a U.S. ally and recipient of significant foreign aid, is at the center of the controversy. Gambaryan and Anjarwalla traveled to Nigeria to discuss the dispute between Binance and the Nigerian government, but instead, they were detained without due process.