The wife of former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, has expressed deep concern and frustration over the continuous incarceration of her husband, pleading with the Federal Government to set him free.
Yuki Gambaryan, who appealed to Fortune, an American global business magazine, said she is doing what she can, including launching a “Bring Tigran home” website, but frets that her husband was recently denied counsel again prior to his next hearing on September 2, 2024.
“The hardest part is when it comes to my children, who are five and 10. While I had semi-regular phone calls with my husband, they have been arranged at times the children are asleep or at school, leaving them to ask me if they will see their father again. I don’t know how to comfort them. I am begging the Nigerian authorities to let him go home.
“Every day it’s nothing but frustration for our family. Six months is a long time for an innocent man to be detained, and the fear of losing him is all-consuming,” she said.
Richard Teng, Binance CEO also recently stated in a blog post, “I am deeply concerned about the long-term, potentially irreversible physical and mental impact this horrific episode is having on Tigran, and I appeal once again for the Nigerian government to allow him to go home to his family on humanitarian grounds so that he can seek the appropriate medical treatment in the US, recover, and get back to the healthy, active life he previously had.”
The family’s ordeal began when Gambaryan, a former IRS special agent who has played a pivotal role in catching terrorists and crypto criminals, traveled to Nigeria in February to act as an emissary for the company, which has been negotiating settlements with governments around the world — it recently concluded ones with the U.S., Brazil, and India — to resolve investigations into poor compliance practices.
The tone of the talks in the country rapidly shifted; however, Gambaryan was arrested along with another executive on money laundering and tax evasion charges.
In March, the BBC reported that the Federal Government was seeking a payment of $10 billion from Binance.
Reports have it that since then, Gambaryan has fallen gravely ill in prison following severe bouts of malaria. His wife claimed that he is now immobile and unable to leave his cell and that the government has refused to provide him with a wheelchair.
According to Fortune, Gambaryan’s plight has also produced concern and sympathy among others in the cybersecurity world, where he is widely respected for helping to track down drug lords, terrorists, and child pornographers. “Gambaryan’s exploits led him to become a principal protagonist in Tracers in the Dark, a recent book about the ‘dark web.’ A New York Times review rhetorically asked, ‘Who wouldn’t root for Tigran Gambaryan, the hard-working accountant who morphs into a tough-guy I.R.S. agent covered in Greek Orthodox tattoos?’”
In an interview with the magazine, an Army veteran who is Coinbase’s head of security, Philip Martin, said Gambaryan’s contributions to improving the safety and security of the industry have been invaluable, hoping for a timely and just resolution to the situation.
The magazine claims that as the moral case to free Gambaryan appears compelling, the U.S. State Department—which was instrumental in the recent freeing of Gershkovich and other hostages—has yet to formally designate him as wrongfully detained.
Teng further added, “There is no need to imprison an innocent employee to answer for any allegations against Binance. We have settled issues in countries around the world, including the U.S., Thailand, and most recently Brazil and India, in a reasonable, collaborative, and amicable manner with governments. All these were done without threat or harm inflicted on our employees.”
“The wrongfully detained designation is not only a symbolic gesture but also a practical one, since those who receive it become priorities of a special State Department agency known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. Granting this status to Gambaryan would effectively recognize him as a political hostage, which would oblige the special agency to provide expertise and frequent updates under a 2023 law called the Levinson Act. Several members of Congress have already demanded this.
“In response to an inquiry from Fortune about whether Gambaryan will receive the special designation, a State Department spokesperson provided a carefully worded statement. ‘The Department reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of all U.S. nationals overseas for indicators that they are wrongful. When making these assessments, the Department looks at the totality of the circumstances for each case individually. We will continue to monitor Tigran Gambaryan’s case closely,’ said the spokesperson by email.”
