Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan has been denied bail "despite him meeting all the requirements for bail to be granted on medical grounds," a family spokesperson told Decrypt.
Gambaryan has "suffered countless health scares and is now at a point where he is in so much physical pain from a herniated disc in his back that he can no longer walk without assistance," the spokesperson said.
Reports about the executive's failing health have been public for months now. In July, Nigerian officials claimed that he was "fine" a few weeks before a report from his wife countered by saying he was in "shockingly bad" condition and in need of specialized, high-risk surgery.
Detained Binance Exec's Health Is ‘Shockingly Bad’ in Nigerian Prison, Wife Says
Tigran Gambaryan—a former high-ranking executive at cryptocurrency exchange Binance who was taken into custody in Nigeria in February—is still being denied access to his legal team and experiencing a rapid decline in his health, according to his legal team. According to a statement shared with Decrypt, the circumstances for Gambaryan have worsened significantly since July 16, when the Abuja court adjourned for a holiday. Although the next hearing will not take place until October 11, his legal r...
Gambaryan's detention began in February after he and another executive flew in to negotiate with the nation’s authorities regarding a ban on several crypto trading websites, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken.
Gambaryan, who oversees the company's financial crime compliance, was initially detained with fellow executive Nadeem Anjarwalla. They'd been asked to meet with the country's Congress in response to allegations from the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths and Niger Delta Youths Council, which included terrorist financing, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were initially charged with tax evasion and money laundering, but the tax evasion charge was later dropped.
In late March, Anjarwalla managed to escape custody and after he asked permission to visit a local mosque for prayers under guard. Per reports in local media, he is believed to have used a concealed passport to flee the country.
Nigeria Demands Arrests of Binance Execs as Crypto Crackdown Intensifies
A Nigerian parliamentary committee is calling for the arrest of Binance’s executives for allegedly enabling a slew of financial crimes on their platform. Per a report from Politics Nigeria, the House Committee on Financial Crimes has announced plans to recommend that Congress invoke the power to subpoena the crypto exchange’s executives after they failed to appear before the committee voluntarily. The company’s leadership was originally called to Congress in response to allegations from the Empo...
"It is completely unjust to deny someone in Tigran's condition the opportunity to seek appropriate medical help and I just pray that when he is finally released that the damage he is suffering is not permanent," Yuki Gambaryan, Tigran's wife, said through her family's spokesperson. "I am exhausted and deeply disappointed, but I will continue fighting for my husband's rightful freedom."
Meanwhile, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) has been pushing for the U.S. to intervene on Gambaryan's behalf.
“Some [politicians] are not paying attention because there’s a lot of things going on this election cycle. People are distracted. It’s easy to ignore one person or one family,” McCormick told Decrypt last week.
“But also crypto is something that’s very, very misunderstood still,” he added. “There’s been some laziness, quite frankly, looking into the details of the case.”
