Jeff John Roberts, author of the Fortune Crypto newsletter, stated that pressure from U.S. officials over the detention of Tigran Gambaryan may be causing Nigerian officials to regret arresting him. Roberts shared his statement in the June 24 edition of the newsletter, which focused on Gambaryan, a former U.S. federal agent and current Binance employee.
"It's a good bet that all of this had led Nigeria's government to regret its unjustified decision to snatch Gambaryan," said John Roberts. "The thing to watch now is whether the Biden administration chooses to keep the heat on Nigerian authorities—a choice it previously avoided, presumably because Gambaryan's current employer, Binance, has a history of playing it fast and loose with U.S. laws. That's a fair concern but, in the case of Gambaryan, he is a former U.S. law enforcement agent. The country he served should not forsake him in his time of need."
According to Roberts, Gambaryan is an "American hero" who served as a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for ten years prior to joining Binance. He has been "languishing in prison" in Nigeria after being arrested on "spurious" charges in February and is now suffering from malaria and pneumonia. Roberts noted that Gambaryan's case began to gain more attention in June when a bipartisan group of sixteen Congressmen wrote a letter calling on President Joe Biden to enhance efforts to release Gambaryan. This letter was followed by another from more than 100 U.S. agents and prosecutors to the U.S. State Department. Last week, members of Congress French Hill (R-Ark.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) visited Gambaryan in Kuje Prison in Nigeria.
Former U.S. federal agent Tigran Gambaryan in Nigerian court
| X/thecableng
Roberts mentioned that the Nigerian government seems to have "offered a concession of sorts" by dropping the tax evasion charge against Gambaryan, although he still faces a money laundering charge. The tax evasion charge was dropped after FBI Director Christopher Wray made a "rare visit" to Nigeria. Although Wray did not address Gambaryan's case publicly, "the timing of the concession suggests the issue came up," according to Roberts. He added that Nigerian media has also begun to criticize Gambaryan's treatment, with commentators on the Nigeria Politics Weekly podcast saying other corporate executives have started avoiding Nigeria due to fears of "state-sanctioned kidnapping."
After visiting Gambaryan in prison last week, Congressman Hill said he believes Gambaryan is being "wrongfully detained on charges related to money laundering," according to a post on X (formerly Twitter). Hill stated that Gambaryan is not receiving adequate medical treatment for malaria and pneumonia and must be "immediately granted a humanitarian release."
For ten years, Gambaryan was a U.S. federal agent who investigated cases related to "national security, terrorism financing, identity theft, distribution of child pornography, tax evasion, and bank secrecy act violations," according to a post on Binance's website. Binance hired him in 2021 to help fix historical compliance issues, and in 2022 and 2023, his team assisted law enforcement agencies around the world in freezing and seizing more than $2.2 billion worth of assets. The book "Tracers in the Dark" describes Gambaryan's career as a preeminent cyber crimes investigator.
Prior to joining Fortune, Roberts worked at Thomson Reuters, Gigaom, and Decrypt, according to LinkedIn. He is based in California and focuses on law, finance, and technology.