A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, November 27, 2025 dismissed a suit filed by former Binance Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claiming unlawful and prolonged detention.

According to a statement by the EFCC, Justice Umar Mohammed dismissed the case, ruling that the court would not, under the guise of Gambaryan’s fundamental rights claims, “interfere” with the prosecutorial role of the Nigerian authorities in investigating suspected foreign exchange violations and alleged money laundering involving the Binance platform.

Gambaryan filed the suit against the EFCC and the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, seeking compensation and costs over his purported prolonged detention by security operatives in connection with the Federal Government’s money laundering and foreign exchange contravention allegations against Binance.

The EFCC added that while the proceedings lasted, its counsel, Olanrewaju Adeola, told the court that Gambaryan was lawfully detained based on charges of money laundering foreign exchange violations.

Adeola described the suit of the former Binance chief as “a gross abuse of court processes”, even as the EFCC’s position was upheld with the dismissal of the suit by the court.

The Federal Government last year October dropped all charges of money laundering against Gambaryan.

Gambaryan had been facing money laundering trial since April 2024 when he was detained in Nigeria.

A lawyer representing the EFCC, who was the prosecuting agency, announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 23, 2024.

Announcing the withdrawal of the charges, the lawyer said Gambaryan was only an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.

The former Binance executive, in February 2025, narrated his encounter with EFCC operatives during the period of his detention in Nigeria.

Gambaryan told WIRED, a US-based media publication, that he came in contact with several other officials of the EFCC while he was being detained and accused of money laundering and tax evasion by the anti-graft agency.

He identified some of the EFCC officials he came in contact with as Olalekan Ogunjobi, a detective; Hamma Adama Bello, whom he described as a bearded man in his mid-forties; and Ahmad Sa’ad Abubakar, described by Ogunjobi as the right-hand man to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

Ogunjobi professed admiration for his work as a former special agent of the IRS Criminal Investigation, the law enforcement division of the United States Tax Authority.

He told WIRED that their relationship, however, went sour as the period of his detention lengthened.