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:
“We have appealed to the Nigerian government repeatedly to release Tigran […] so that he can go home and get the proper medical treatment that he needs.”
“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.
“He can’t walk properly, and he’s not getting the proper medical treatment.”
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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