Detained Binance Executives to Remain in Nigerian Custody Until Hearing: WSJ

Two
senior
Binance
executives
will
remain
detained
in
Nigeria
at
least
through
a
March
20
hearing,
according
to

a
Wednesday
report
from
the
Wall
Street
Journal.

The
two
men
–
American
citizen
Tigran
Gambaryan,
Binance’s
head
of
financial
crime
compliance,
and
dual
U.K.-Kenyan
national
Nadeem
Anjarwalla,
the
exchange’s
regional
manager
for
Africa
–
were
arrested
on
Feb.
26
after
flying
to
Nigeria’s
capital
city
of
Abuja
to
meet
with
the
Nigerian
government
at
the
government’s
request.

Though
neither
Gambaryan,
a
former
Internal
Revenue
Service
(IRS)
special
agent,
nor
Anjarwalla
have
been
charged
with
any
crimes,
the
Nigerian
government
has
accused
Binance,
their
employer,
of
crashing
its
currency,
the
naira.

According
to
a
Wall
Street
Journal
report
citing
Anjarwalla’s
wife,
a
Nigerian
court
approved
a
two-week
detention
on
Feb.
28,
pending
an
investigation,
two
days
after
they
were
first
placed
under
detention
at
a
guarded
house.

A
spokesperson
for
Nigeria’s
National
Security
Adviser
told
Bloomberg
that
the
detentions
were
“not
necessarily
[an]
arrest”
but
called
it
“a
national
security
issue”
for
the
country.

A
second
court
hearing
on
Wednesday
did
not
officially
extend
the
detention
period
but
set
a
follow-up
hearing
for
March
20,
until
which
Nigerian
officials
were
given
more
time
to
respond
to
arguments
made
by
the
Binance
executives’
lawyers,
according
to
the
report.

Olayemi
Cardoso,
Nigeria’s
Central
Bank
governor,
told
local
media
that

$26
billion
in
untraceable
funds
flowed
through
Binance
Nigeria
last
year
alone.
The
West
African
country
is
facing
an
ongoing
foreign
exchange
crisis
and
is
searching
for
ways
to
stem
capital
outflows.

A
spokesperson
for
Binance

previously
told
CoinDesk
that
the
exchange
was
“working
collaboratively
with
Nigerian
authorities
to
bring
Nadeem
and
Tigran
back
home
safely
to
their
families.”
The
exchange

tweeted
Wednesday
it
was
still
working
to
bring
“colleagues
home.”