In eight months, criminal investigator who pioneered cryptocurrency tracking as a law enforcement technique has, in a strange twist of fate, been jailed in Nigeria, facing charges of money laundering and tax evasion. Now he is finally coming home.
On Wednesday in Abuja, a court ruled that criminal charges against Tigran Gambarian, the Binance executive who previously worked as a criminal investigator for the IRS for a decade, would be dropped on medical grounds as pressure from the US government rose to secure Gambarian’s release.
Gambarian was detained in February and later jailed after being invited to the country by Nigerian officials to discuss a dispute between the Nigerian government and Binance over its history of money laundering and the exchange’s alleged role in devaluing the Nigerian national currency . He has since been held in the country’s Kuje prison, where his family and lawyers say he has been suffering acutely from a herniated disc in his spine that requires immediate surgery.
Despite the Nigerian court’s decision to drop the charges against Gambarian, first reported by Bloomberg News, Gambarian is still in Nigeria and has been returned to prison since the ruling, according to Patrick Hillman, a former Binance executive and colleague of Gambarian’s who was involved in lobbying efforts for his release. “We’re all waiting right now to hear that he’s on a plane, landed and headed home,” Hillman says. “Until we get confirmation on that, we’re all just clutching our shirt collars and waiting to make sure there aren’t any more hiccups.”
A spokesman for Gambarian’s family declined to comment, and Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The country’s criminal case against Binance, despite Gambarian’s release, will continue, according to Reuters.
International pressure has been mounting on Nigeria to release Gambarian, whose health has apparently deteriorated during his imprisonment. In July, he attended a court hearing in a wheelchair. In September, a video captured him limping into court on one crutch, begging in vain for help from a Nigerian security guard.
Meanwhile, 16 members of Congress signed a letter to the White House calling for Gambarian’s case to be treated as a hostage situation. A resolution proposed in the House Foreign Affairs Committee calls on the US to press for his release. More recently, a group of state prosecutors similarly urged the White House to apply the necessary leverage to free Gambarian.
