On Wednesday, the Nigerian government dropped all charges against Tigran Gambaryan, an executive at Binance Holdings.
News About Nigeria recalls that Gambaryan has been facing a money laundering trial from detention since April 2024.
The decision to drop the charges against Gambaryan was announced by a lawyer representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – the prosecuting agency on Wednesday morning.
Announcing the withdrawal of the charges, the lawyer said Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.
On his part, Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) representing Gambaryan, agreed with the prosecution, saying that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.
The court, therefore, complied with the decision of the Federal government to drop the charges against Gambaryan.
Wednesday’s hearing was a climax of the behind-the-scenes diplomatic lobbying that had been ongoing between the Nigerian and the US governments for months.
The US government has been calling for Gambaryan’s release on the grounds that he is only an employee at Binance and that his health was deteriorating by the day.
Recall that Gambaryan has been held at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja since his arraignment in April.
In May, the court denied the Binance executive’s bail application, judging him a flight risk.
The court’s decision came about two months after Gambaryan’s colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who was also facing the same charge reportedly escaped from a pre-trial custody in Abuja in March 2024.
