Recently, Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, confirmed the company’s close cooperation with Nigerian authorities following the detention of its financial crime compliance officer. Tigran Gambaryan. Gambaryan and another Binance executive are accused of laundering more than $35 million.
According to Reuters reportThe Nigerian court has adjourned the case until May 2, as confirmed by the country’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Binance executives face growing legal problems
Like before reported by Bitcoinist, detained executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla arrived in Nigeria after the country banned several cryptocurrency exchange websites.
On February 26, they were arrested by Nigeria’s EFCC. While Gambaryan’s case is ongoing, Anjarwalla, Anglo-Kenyan regional director for Africa, leak Nigeria last month. However, authorities have now discovered his whereabouts in Kenya.
According to According to a local newspaper, Nigerian authorities, working with the Kenyan government and INTERPOL, located Nadeem Anjarwalla in Kenya after he escaped. The Nigerian federal government is working on his extradition to Nigeria to face the charges against him.
The EFCC, alongside international law enforcement agencies such as the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is leading efforts to secure the return of ‘Anjarwalla.
Following these developments, Binance CEO Richard Teng, who took over as CEO after Changpeng Zhao (CZ) agreed to step down as CEO as part of the 2023 deal with US regulators, said at a recent crypto conference in Dubai: “What is the CEO of Binance? I can say that we are working closely with the Nigerian authorities to try to resolve this problem.
Tax evasion charges add to detention problems
Binance’s head of regional markets, Vishal Sacheendran, acknowledged that the company’s arrests were unprecedented. However, he declined to comment to Reuters on the situation. charges against the company itself.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede has stressed that the commission’s involvement in the prosecution of Binance executives sends a strong message about the EFCC’s determination to curb distortions and disruptions in the foreign exchange market. from Nigeria.
The EFCC is working with various international agencies, including INTERPOL, the FBI and the governments of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Kenya, to extradite the accused.
In addition to the EFCC case, Binance and its executives They also face tax evasion charges brought by Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The tax evasion case is expected to be heard in court on Friday.
As legal proceedings continue, the cryptocurrency community awaits further updates on the outcome of the lawsuits against Binance executives and the implications it could have on the company’s operations in Nigeria and the -of the.
The exchange’s native token, BNB, is trading at $556, up slightly by 1% in the last 24 hours.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
