A group of former government employees and compliance officials, now working in the crypto industry, rallied in front of the United Nations on Wednesday to show support for Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance who’s been detained in Nigeria since February.
Gambaryan is being held as a representative of the company he works for, with prosecutors trying him on money laundering charges brought against Binance. He is being held in the Kuje Prison, which is notorious for holding terrorists and other criminals, where his health has deteriorated heavily; in a recent video, he was struggling to walk with a crutch. A spokesperson for his family said he has also suffered multiple infections, as well as a herniated disc in his back.
Despite this, the U.S. government only publicly acknowledged his detention earlier this month, though Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed Gambaryan with Nigerian officials in May, the New York Times reported.
Amanda Wick, a former federal prosecutor and government investigator who organized the protest, noted that Gambaryan used to work for the U.S. government.
Prior to his role at Binance, Gambaryan was an investigator with the IRS’s Criminal Investigation wing.
“America has fought harder for people who committed crimes [in the countries they were detained in] than for someone who fought for his country,” Wick said.
Nigeria prosecuting someone to get the attention of their employer is “truly unjust,” said Chris Tyrrell, the chief risk and compliance officer at Ondo Finance.
Gary Weinstein, the founder of Infinity Advisory LLC and former state assistant attorney general, said all of the attendees present were in favor of consumer protections and “high-integrity” markets, including Gambaryan. He noted that Gambaryan had been invited by the Nigerian government when he visited in February and was given a “false assurance of safe passage.”
“One cannot do their job if one is in fear of getting snatched by a nation-state,” he said.