Binance executives in Nigeria face court adjournment

The Nigerian court has decided to postpone the court hearing for the Binance tax evasion case until June due to the failure to bring Tigran Gambaryan to court. Gambaryan, who is a U.S. citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, was supposed to appear at the hearing but was absent without explanation. Even the lawyer representing the revenue service expressed confusion over Gambaryan’s absence and expected him to be produced by the Nigerian prison service.

This delay comes after a previous ruling that allowed Gambaryan to represent Binance in the tax evasion trial. Binance, Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional director for Africa, are facing four counts of tax evasion, including the failure to register with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Binance CEO Richard Teng criticized Nigerian authorities for detaining Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, accusing them of setting a dangerous precedent. Teng claimed that the executives were promised safe passage for their meetings in Nigeria but were unlawfully detained by the authorities. In addition to the tax evasion charges, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has also accused Binance and its executives of laundering over $35 million.

Gambaryan was arrested in February and is currently awaiting trial, while Anjarwalla managed to escape custody but was later extradited from Kenya to Nigeria. As part of the crackdown on crypto trading, Binance was ordered to delist the naira from its peer-to-peer facilities and provide detailed information on all local crypto users on its platform.

In the ongoing Nigerian money laundering case, a Binance executive has been denied bail.