The cryptocurrency startup Binance has begged for the release of senior executive Tigran Gambaryan, clearing him of knowing nothing about the company’s problems with Nigeria.
This is also as Gambaryan’s wife, Mrs Yuli Gambaryan has also cried out to the federal government to release her husband to ease the untold hardship the family has gone through since his detention.
In an open letter, made available to Vanguard, Mrs Gambaryan said her husband has deep respect for Nigeria and therefore couldn’t have done anything to jeopardise the integrity of the country.
She also pleaded that while it is understandable that the federal government has decided to scrutinise the activities of Binance, her husband is just a mere employee without powers to make corporate decisions.
She described Gambaryan as an incredible father, loving husband, and supportive friend to everyone who meets him.
Part of the letter reads: “My name is Yuki Gambaryan, and I am pleading with you from the bottom of my heart as the wife of Tigran Gambaryan to please allow my innocent husband to come home.
“Tigran is first and foremost an incredible father, loving husband, and supportive friend to everyone who meets him. He has a deep respect for Nigeria and its people, and in fact, he had expressed excitement to me at the prospect of starting to work in your country.
“I understand and respect your decision to scrutinize his employer, Binance. I realize that this whole situation has arisen from your commitment to your country and its citizens. However, Tigran is merely an employee. He does not have authority over Binance’s corporate decisions or policies that might have impacted Nigeria. He spends his workday investigating and pursuing criminal activity on the platform. His very job is to help governments, like yours, prosecute and prevent illicit activity. Sadly, any influence he might have had at Binance to help the company leaders understand your position in this disagreement is trapped in that cell with him.
“Tigran is globally recognized for his significant contributions in solving crimes involving cryptocurrencies. I know many of his peers, including in Nigeria, would say that Tigran’s continuous efforts not only decrease illicit activity on Binance’s platform but for all cryptocurrencies across the world.
“Tigran and I have two young children. This is the longest their Dad has ever been away from them, and they don’t understand why he hasn’t come home to them. They ask me every day when he will be coming home, and still I cannot give them an answer. This week is going to be especially difficult as it is our youngest’s 5th birthday on Friday. I never imagined Tigran would not be here with us to celebrate it.
“Meanwhile, his aging mother spends her days in tears, praying for the safe return of her only son. She raised Tigran almost all on her own. He is her everything, the thought of him being in a country so far away from her and in these circumstances is beyond devastating to her.
“A small part of me chips away every day without Tigran by my side. He is the love of my life, and I cannot imagine a life without him. I plead with you from the depths of my heart to release Tigran. Please let our children see their father. Your act of mercy would be eternally appreciated.” she added
Meanwhile, Gambaryan’s company, Binance has also called on federal government to please release him, saying he is someone known globally as fully dedicated to law enforcement.
The company said for a decade, he served as a U.S. Federal Agent investigating cases involving national security, terrorism financing, identity theft, distribution of child pornography, tax evasion, and bank secrecy act violations.
Official statement from Binance says: “As part of the elite cyber investigations team in the U.S. Treasury Department’s IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit, Tigran led several multi-billion dollar investigations, including the Silk Road corruption investigations, BTC-e bitcoin exchange, and the Mt. Gox hack.
“He also played a pivotal role in probing Alphabay, Welcome2Video, and the high-profile “VIP” Twitter hack, working alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the United States Secret Service. Tigran later assumed the role of the IRS-CI representative at the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), focusing on national security and terrorism financing.
“Tigran is so well known as the world’s preeminent cyber crimes investigator that a book, Tracer’s in the Dark, was written about his efforts to bring down some of history’s most notorious cyber criminals.
“Given this background, Tigran was hired in 2021 to help Binance fix past compliance issues. As the head of Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team, he has been a strong advocate for Binance to develop policies and build compliance capabilities that set new industry standards”.
The statement said in 2022 and 2023, Tigran’s Financial Crime Compliance team assisted global law enforcement in freezing and seizing more than $2.2B worth of assets, including more than $285M in cooperation with United States Agencies like the FBI, DOJ, DEA, and others.
“In the past several years, he, along with his FCC team, responded to more than 600 information requests coming from Nigerian law enforcement agencies or related to investigations pertinent to Nigeria. The information provided helped tackle crimes ranging from scams and fraud to money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion, leading to multiple asset freezes and seizures, totaling more than USD 400,000.
“Tigran’s team also provided multiple training sessions for Nigerian crime fighters on the role of exchanges in the digital-asset ecosystem. This included a three-hour online workshop for 70 Nigerian EFCC officials in mid-2023 and, late last year, two full-day sessions for EFCC officials in Abuja and Lagos, with more than 30 investigators attending each of them.
“Tigran is a strict law enforcement professional and is not part of Binance management. While he has left official service of the U.S. government, he has remained fully committed to the role of law enforcement officer ever since, operating as a global advocate for good governance and transparent regulatory financial practices.
“Binance respectfully requests that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, is not held responsible while current discussions are ongoing between Binance and Nigerian government officials.”