Binance CEO Richard Teng disclosed in a recent blog post a troubling encounter involving Nigerian officials and two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla.
Teng outlined a series of events that unfolded, starting with a meeting in Abuja with representatives from approximately 30 Nigerian agencies to address regulatory concerns.
During this process, unidentified individuals allegedly approached Binance employees, suggesting cryptocurrency payments to resolve the issues.
Subsequently, the Binance team received a demand for a significant cryptocurrency payment within 48 hours, purportedly to settle the allegations. Despite growing concerns for their safety, Binance declined the payment, viewing it as illegitimate.
“As our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.
“Later that day, our local counsel — representing us at that time — was summoned by the committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.
“Counsel reported back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away and that our decision was expected by the morning.
“Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed. We, of course, declined the payment demand via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer,” Teng said.
In an effort to diplomatically resolve the situation, Binance executives were invited to meet with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). However, the meeting took an unexpected turn when the officials changed, and members of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) adopted a hostile stance, citing national security concerns.
This escalated into the arrest and detention of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla.