The popular Binance Executive during the Nigeria-Binance war, Tigran Gambaryan, has resigned from the World largest crypto exchange company, following his release from an eight-month detention in Nigeria. He made this decision public via a LinkedIn post on June 8, 2025.
Tigran Gambaryan is now the former Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance and a former U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) special agent. His resignation comes after facing a money laundering and tax evasion charges in Nigeria.
The harrowing ordeal started in February 2024, when he and Binance’s Africa Regional Manager, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were held in Nigeria during a business visit to negotiate the platform’s activities with local authorities.
The authorities blamed Binance manipulating their currency through facilitating currency speculation on its crypto platform. In addition, they also accused Binance of illicit financial activities. The authorities said all these unlawful acts further exacerbated the naira’s depreciation amid a critical economic downturn.
In response to these accusations, Binance sent Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla to fix things with Nigerian's authorities. But upon arrival into the country, they were detailed. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charges both Tigran Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, and Binance itself to court for laundering more than $35.4 million and evading taxes.
Although, they all denied the allegations, and Anjarwalla managed to escaped custody in March 2024, leaving Gambaryan in an over-watched custody. He was moved from government guesthouse, where his partner escaped, to Kuje Correctional Centre in FCT, Abuja.
During his endurance in the harrowing detention in Nigeria, his health deteriorated severely, suffering from malaria, pneumonia, tonsillitis, and a herniated disc. Due to these health issues, he was heard in a wheelchair-bound because he couldn't walk.
In September 2024, a courtroom video showed him struggling to walk. This video quickly drew international attention. The U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups deemed his detention unlawful. Gambaryan said that Nigerian authorities used him as leverage against Binance, allegedly demanding user data and possibly a $150 million bribe, a claim Nigeria rejected.
As the international pressure continues, especially the one that happened during the September 2024 UN General Assembly, prompted Nigeria's Financial Crime Investigator EFCC to drop charges against Gambaryan on October 23, 2024. The agency said the release was due to his declining health, so he was released from Kuje prison and returned to the U.S. for recovery.
Tigran Gambaryan joined Binance in 2021 at a time when the exchange faced criticism for weak anti-money laundering (AML) measures. He was the Head of Financial Crime Compliance and a former U.S. Internal Revenue Service IRS investigator who built Binance’s global investigations team from scratch.
He has helped track illicit crypto transactions in high-profile cases like Silk Road and Mt. Gox, when he was working as an IRS investigator with the U.S. government. Under his leadership at Binance, the investigation team expanded to more than 100 experts and professionals, including former federal agents and prosecutors.
The investigation team processed over a thousand of global law enforcement inquiries. He also provided training to international law enforcement agencies on combating financial crimes. All these efforts are made to ensure that Binance’s compliance with U.S. and global regulations.
However, Binance still faced regulatory challenges despite all the investigation team's efforts. In 2023 after Changpeng Zhao stepped down as the CEO of Binance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the company and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, accusing them of misappropriating customer funds and breaching securities regulations.
Zhao admitted guilt, and paid a $50 million penalty. He also served a four-month prison term. In addition to Binance regulatory challenges in Nigeria, the company faced a $4.3 billion fine and, amid ongoing legal challenges, suspended naira transactions in Nigeria in March 2024. Many people believe that Nigeria authorities held Gambaryan accountable for Binance's sins despite his his lack of decision-making authority in the company.
In his LinkedIn farewell, Tigran Gambaryan expressed pride in his work at Binance and affirmed his commitment to the crypto industry. His resignation coincides with Binance’s ongoing regulatory battles, including a tax evasion case in Nigeria and global scrutiny over anti-money laundering compliance. Currently, Gambaryan is still he focuses on recovery from Nigeria war.
