Cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance has issued a statement asserting that Tigran Gambaryan, its head of financial crime compliance, should not be held accountable for the company’s operations in Nigeria.
Following the detention of Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, by Nigerian authorities on February 28, the company emphasized that Gambaryan does not hold a managerial position nor possesses decision-making authority within Binance.
Anjarwalla managed to evade custody, but both executives, along with Binance, are slated to face charges for tax evasion and money laundering brought forth by the Nigerian government, with court proceedings expected to commence on Thursday.
Binance clarified that Gambaryan, an American citizen renowned globally for his dedication to law enforcement, was recruited in 2021 to aid Binance in rectifying past compliance issues.
The company stated: “As the head of Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team, he has been a strong advocate for Binance to develop policies and build compliance capabilities that set new industry standards.
“In 2022 and 2023, Tigran’s financial crime compliance team assisted global law enforcement in freezing and seizing more than $2.2B worth of assets, including more than $285M in cooperation with United States Agencies like the FBI, DOJ, DEA, and others.
“In the past several years, he, along with his FCC team, responded to more than 600 information requests coming from Nigerian law enforcement agencies or related to investigations pertinent to Nigeria.
“The information provided helped tackle crimes ranging from scams and fraud to money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion, leading to multiple asset freezes and seizures, totalling more than $400,000.”
Binance also said Gambaryan’s team provided multiple training sessions for Nigerian security agencies on the role of exchanges in the digital-asset ecosystem.
This, the firm, said included a three-hour online workshop for 70 officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in mid-2023 and, late last year, two full-day sessions for EFCC officials in Abuja and Lagos, with more than 30 investigators attending each of them.
“Tigran is a strict law enforcement professional and is not part of Binance management,” Binance said.
“While he has left official service of the U.S. government, he has remained fully committed to the role of law enforcement officer ever since, operating as a global advocate for good governance and transparent regulatory financial practices.
“Binance respectfully requests that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, is not held responsible while current discussions are ongoing between Binance and Nigerian government officials.”
Binance said Gambaryan served as a U.S. federal agent investigating cases involving national security, terrorism financing, identity theft, distribution of child pornography, tax evasion, and Bank Secrecy Act violations.
“As part of the elite cyber investigations team in the U.S. Treasury Department’s IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit, Tigran led several multi-billion dollar investigations, including the Silk Road corruption investigations, BTC-e bitcoin exchange, and the Mt. Gox hack,” the firm said.
Gambaryan also “played a pivotal role in probing Alphabay, Wall Street Marketplace, Welcome2Video, and the high-profile “VIP” Twitter hack, working alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the United States Secret Service”.
“Tigran later assumed the role of the IRS-CI representative at the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), focusing on national security and terrorism financing,” the firm said.
Due to Gambaryan’s exploit, Binance said a book, ‘Tracer’s in the Dark’, was written about his efforts to bring down some of history’s most notorious cyber criminals.
