FG Withdraw Money Laundering Charges Against Binance Executive Gambaryan
The Federal Government of Nigerian has withdrew all charges against Tigran Gambaryan, an executive at Binance Holdings, who has been facing money laundering trial from detention since April.
A lawyer representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the prosecuting agency, announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja Wednesday, 23rd of October, 2024.
The lawyer said Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was just an employee of Binance, whose activities was being prosecuted for.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mark Mordi, who has been representing Mr Gambaryan, agreed with the prosecution, saying that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.
It was earlier reported that the judge, Emeka Nwite, rejected his second bail application on 11 October, ruling that Mr Gambaryan’s grounds of ill health were not sufficient to release him from detention and then fixed 18 October for continuation for trial but Mr Gambaryan was absent.
This made the Judge to rescheduled the trial for 25 October, which appears to have now been overtaken by the event of Wednesday’s unpublicized hearing which abruptly ended the case.
FCNN learnt that Gambaryan has been held at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja since his arraignment in April.
He is standing trial alongside Binance, a cryptocurrency company, on five counts of money laundering and currency speculation involving as much as $34.4 million.
Binance is facing tax evasion charges in a separate case before another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court in May, denied the Binance executive’s bail application, judging him a flight risk.
