Binance Executives to Remain in Custody in Nigeria

Two senior executives from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadim Anjarwalla, will remain in custody in Nigeria at least until March 20. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The court hearing for Binance’s case is scheduled for that date. However, the hearing held on March 13 did not officially extend the detention of the executives. It is known that they have not been charged.

Nigerian officials are expected to prepare “responses to the arguments put forward by the Binance executives’ lawyers” by March 20.

Back in February, Tigran Gambaryan, Vice President of Global Intelligence and Investigations at the exchange, and Nadim Anjarwalla, Director of the trading platform in West and East Africa, were forcibly detained by Nigerian authorities on February 25.

According to available information, they are being interrogated “as part of an investigation conducted by security agencies into foreign exchange market regulation issues.” Their court-sanctioned detention period ended on March 12.

Nigerian authorities accuse Binance of financing terrorism, money laundering, and manipulating the naira exchange rate. According to the local central bank, $26 billion has passed through Binance over the past year, with sources that “cannot be precisely determined.”

Previously, the exchange was required to provide a list of the top 100 users in Nigeria and the entire transaction history for the past six months. The platform was also obliged to settle any outstanding tax liabilities.

Binance potentially faces a fine of $10 billion.