{"id":240170,"date":"2024-10-27T14:56:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T14:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/"},"modified":"2024-10-27T14:56:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T14:56:05","slug":"why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/137\/13719380.295.jpg\" alt=\"Tigran Gambaryan - Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga\" title=\"Tigran Gambaryan - Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga\" width=\"295\" height=\"188\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Tigran Gambaryan &#8211; Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">Nigeria has released an American cryptocurrency executive held in the country for approximately eight months on money laundering charges. The West African authorities have announced they are dropping the charges.<\/p>\n<p>Reports indicate the decision was made on health and diplomatic grounds. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance\u2019s head of financial crime compliance, was freed on humanitarian grounds and is returning to the United States for medical treatment, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am grateful to my Nigerian colleagues and partners for the productive discussions that have resulted in this step and look forward to working closely with them on the many areas of cooperation and collaboration critical to the bilateral partnership between our two countries,\u201d Sullivan stated, adding that he had informed Gambaryan\u2019s wife of the good news.<\/p>\n<p>Gambaryan was initially arrested in February while on a business trip to Nigeria with Binance\u2019s Africa regional manager, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who fled custody and remains at large. Nigerian authorities had accused Binance, the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Gambaryan of laundering up to $35 million and manipulating the naira currency, allegations they deny.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria, Africa\u2019s largest crypto economy by trade volume, has seen significant growth in cryptocurrency usage, with many citizens using it as a hedge against inflation and the declining naira. As crypto adoption grew, the government\u2014facing pressure to stabilize the local currency\u2014alleged that the platform was being used to launder money and finance terrorism, leading Binance to suspend naira transactions.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, R.U. Adaba, a prosecuting lawyer with Nigeria\u2019s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the government was closing the case for \u201ccritical international and diplomatic reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Binance still faces charges of suspected tax evasion and operating without the required license. Gambaryan\u2019s trial has drawn controversy, including claims of illegal detention and passport seizures. Binance has also alleged that Nigerian officials demanded bribes for the release of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, claims Nigerian officials deny.<\/p>\n<p>Gambaryan\u2019s health reportedly deteriorated during his prolonged detention, with his bail requests twice denied as he was deemed a flight risk. He was held at Kuje prison in Abuja as his court case unfolded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tigran Gambaryan &#8211; Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga Nigeria has released an American cryptocurrency executive held in the country for approximately eight months on money laundering charges. The West African authorities have announced they are dropping the charges. Reports indicate the decision was made on health and diplomatic grounds. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance\u2019s head of financial crime [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tigran Gambaryan &#8211; Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga Nigeria has released an American cryptocurrency executive held in the country for approximately eight months on money laundering charges. The West African authorities have announced they are dropping the charges. Reports indicate the decision was made on health and diplomatic grounds. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance\u2019s head of financial crime [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"383\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/13719380.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/13719380.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/13719380.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/13719380.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":383},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/27\\\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"Tigran Gambaryan &#8211; Photo credit: AP\/Olamikan Gbemiga Nigeria has released an American cryptocurrency executive held in the country for approximately eight months on money laundering charges. The West African authorities have announced they are dropping the charges. Reports indicate the decision was made on health and diplomatic grounds. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance\u2019s head of financial crime [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":383,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention","datePublished":"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/"},"wordCount":388,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/","name":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-27T14:56:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/13719380.jpg","width":600,"height":383},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/10\/27\/why-nigeria-released-american-crypto-executive-after-8-month-detention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Nigeria released American crypto executive after 8-month detention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}