Binance CEO Richard Teng says his team has been working “across the clock” to bring Tigran Gambaryan home to the United States as the executive’s health declines daily:
“There’s no need to hold our staff. He’s held unjustly, unfairly,” Teng told Cointelegraph at the Token2049 conference in Singapore on Sept. 19.
“It is distressing for all of us,” said Teng. “Especially for the families. For us at Binance, this is a top priority for us. We have a task force internally working across the clock, looking at different avenues from legal to political.”
The Binance CEO hopes the US can designate Gambaryan as unlawfully detained to speed up that process. He added that Binance has also tried to appeal to the Nigerian government to release Gambaryan on humanitarian grounds.
Gambaryan has
contracted malaria and caught pneumonia
twice since being locked up in Nigeria, Teng said. His declining health even resulted in him suddenly collapsing when appearing before a court back in May.
Gambaryan, who is the
cryptocurrency exchange’s
head of financial crime compliance, traveled to Nigeria on Feb. 26 after the Nigerian government reportedly invited him to
address Binance’s compliance issues
in the country.
However, after two meetings, which were described as starting professionally and then becoming increasingly hostile, Nigerian authorities detained Gambaryan. The Binance executive is currently based in Nigeria’s “notorious” Kuje Prison, known for its harsh conditions.
Teng’s response to Gambaryan’s video from the hearing. Source:
Richard Teng
He received
support from 12 US politicians
in June who called on President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens to make Gambaryan’s case a bigger priority.
Gambaryan’s mother, Knarik Gambaryan, also called on US authorities to
up their efforts
on Sept. 18.
The US politicians believe Gambaryan was charged with several “baseless” crimes, such as money laundering and tax evasion, which they think is part of a coercion tactic by Nigerian officials to extort Binance.
Related:
Nigerian prison fails to bring Binance exec to court
While Teng’s priority lies with Gambaryan, he still hopes that Binance can contribute to Nigeria’s future economic transformation.
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria, processing about 32% of crypto transactions by Nigerians,
according
to a November 2023 CoinGecko report, citing Statistica data.
Bybit, KuCoin and NairaEx are among other commonly used trading platforms in the country.
Nigeria
ranks second in the world
in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, according to a Sept. 11 report by Chainalysis.
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Binance CEO Announces Task Force Working Around the Clock to Secure Release of Executive in Nigeria