Binance director denied bail in Nigerian money laundering case

(This October 11 story has been corrected to say ‘financial crime chief’ in paragraph 1, not ‘financial compliance chief’, and to change ‘compliance chief’ to ‘executive’ in the headline)

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA: The head of Binance’s financial crime unit was denied bail for the second time on Friday as his money laundering trial began in Nigeria, with a judge ruling that the prison he is being held in is capable of meeting his medical needs to fulfil.

Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen, has been in detention in Nigeria since late February. He and Binance deny the charges against him.

He had asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to release him on medical grounds, arguing that he had to undergo surgery outside prison and that his health was deteriorating.

“There is no evidence before this court that the Nigerian Correctional Service is unable to cope with the health challenges of the suspect,” Judge Emeka Nwite said.

Nwite also said Gambaryan had not withdrawn an appeal against an earlier bail ruling in May and thus his latest request constitutes “an abuse of process to allow the suspect to be released on bail while an appeal is pending before the court by profession.”

The judge postponed the trial until October 18 after Gambaryan’s lawyer cross-examined two state witnesses.

Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki Gambaryan, said her husband should not be in detention because he was never a decision maker at Binance and she would continue to fight for his freedom.

“I pray that when he is finally released, the damage he suffers will not be permanent. I am exhausted and deeply disappointed,” she said in a statement.

Binance is separately facing accusations of tax evasion, which it denies.

(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Frances Kerry and David Holmes)