{"id":11849,"date":"2024-07-12T07:05:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T07:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11849"},"modified":"2024-07-12T07:05:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T07:05:48","slug":"pressure-grows-in-congress-to-treat-crypto-investigator-tigran-gambaryan-jailed-in-nigeria-as-a-hostage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11849","title":{"rendered":"Pressure Grows in Congress to Treat Crypto Investigator Tigran Gambaryan, Jailed in Nigeria, as a Hostage"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

When Tigran Gambaryan was first invited in February to meet with the Nigerian government in order to settle a dispute with his employer, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Nigerian officials detained him against his will, stripped him of his passport, and told him he was a \u201cguest\u201d of the state. He’s since been charged with financial crimes and jailed for months as a criminal suspect.<\/p>\n

Pressure is now mounting within the US Congress for the Biden administration to treat him as what his supporters argue he has been all along: a hostage, held illegally by an unaccountable foreign country.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, US congressman Rich McCormick, who represents Gambaryan’s district in his home state of Georgia, submitted a resolution to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that both urges the Nigerian government to release Gambaryan and calls on the US government to recognize that Gambaryan is being illegally detained as a hostage in an effort to extort his employer, Binance. That resolution represents the latest in a series of growing calls from Congress for the White House to step up its pressure on Nigeria to release Gambaryan, a former federal agent who led many of the most significant cryptocurrency-related criminal cases of the last decade<\/a> during his time as an IRS criminal investigator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued detention of Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria is a clear violation of his rights, and he is simply being used as a means of extortion by the Nigerian government,\u201d McCormick wrote in a statement. \u201cWe urge Nigeria to immediately release Tigran and provide him with the necessary medical care and due process. The United States Government must do everything in its power to secure the release of Tigran Gambaryan, and all of our citizens wrongfully detained abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCormick’s resolution to push for Gambaryan’s release follows an earlier open letter from 16 members of Congress<\/a> calling on the White House to transfer Gambaryan’s case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage affairs. That letter noted that Gambaryan has suffered from malaria and pneumonia, collapsing in court during one day of his trial, yet has been denied proper care in a hospital. \u201cGambaryan’s health and wellbeing are in danger, and we fear for his life,\u201d the letter read. \u201cImmediate action is essential to ensure his safety and preserve his life. We must act swiftly before it is too late.\u201d Two House members, French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan, visited Gambaryan in jail last month and have also called for his release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gambaryan and another Binance staffer, Nadeem Anjarwalla, flew to Abuja in late February at the invitation of the Nigerian government after the country’s officials accused Binance, where Gambaryan works as head of its investigations and financial crime compliance, of money laundering and contributing to the devaluation of the country’s national currency, the naira. But just days into that negotiation, the two men were detained in a government-run \u201cguest house\u201d against their will.<\/p>\n

The situation escalated further when Anjarwalla, who is based in Kenya, escaped during a visit to a mosque for Ramadan prayers. Gambaryan was then criminally charged with tax evasion and money laundering\u2014all signs suggest those charges relate to the behavior of Binance, not Gambaryan personally\u2014and moved to Kuje prison, where he has since been held.<\/p>\n

\n
\n