Read time: 3 minutes

Families concerned about jailed Binance execs in Nigeria

By , Africa editor
Nigeria , 22 Mar 2024
Binance executives detained in Nigeria, Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan.
Binance executives detained in Nigeria, Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan.

The families of jailed Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan (American citizen) and Nadeem Anjarwalla (British-Kenyan citizen) are unsatisfied with their respective embassies' efforts to assist the two.

Despite a March 20 court session that did not extend their imprisonment, two Binance employees are still being imprisoned in Abuja.

The pair was seized by Nigerian officials on February 26th, following a series of meetings in Abuja to which they had been invited by the Nigerian government.

Gambaryan is the head of financial crime compliance for the Binance Security & Investigations team, while Anjarwalla is Binance's regional manager for East and West Africa.

Binance was driven to suspend operations last year after the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria labelled it an illegal cryptocurrency trading platform.

This year, the two were asked to attend meetings in the West African country, but they were imprisoned afterward.

At the court hearing in Abuja on Wednesday, which the two did not attend, the court ordered that after hearing arguments from both parties, the session would resume on April 5th, ten working days later.

According to the families, this verdict came after the first court order to hold Gambaryan and Anjarwalla expired on March 12th, and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission submitted a request for a fresh order, which the Judge did not extend.

Throughout this time, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla’s relatives have pleaded with Nigerian authorities to release their loved ones.

Anjarwalla’s sole son celebrated his first birthday yesterday, while Gambaryan’s son turns five on April 5th. With their ongoing detention, both fathers will miss important milestones in their children's lives, said the families.

Today the families told ITWeb Africa: “We have been in touch with our embassies. We don’t feel that enough is being done to get them out, or at least they are not communicating directly with us to let us know what they are doing.”

Attempts to get comments from the embassies were unsuccessful at the time of publication.

The wives of Anjarwalla and Gambaryan expressed worry over their husbands' extended detention.

Elahe Anjarwalla, said, “I am completely heartbroken. Nadeem has no authority to make high level decisions at Binance and I am once again asking from the bottom of my heart that the Nigerian authorities please allow him and Tigran to return home whilst they continue their discussions with Binance. 

"I am also calling on the British and Kenyan governments to do more to get Nadeem back home to us. Please, we just want this nightmare to end.”

While, Yuki Gambaryan, commented, “Tigran was only supposed to be away from us for a very short trip and now over 3 weeks later we have no idea when we will see him again.

“Tigran is globally recognised for his work in law enforcement and many of his peers would say that Tigran’s continuous efforts are what keep crypto currencies safe and clean. Please let him come home to continue this good work."

Daily newsletter