In the early days of March 2024, the social media and news mediums were hit with news detailing how Nigeria’s security agencies had detained Tigran Gambaryan, Binance Holdings Limited’s head of financial crime compliance and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the company’s Africa regional manager.
Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It offers services such as spot trading, futures, staking, and lending. The platform supports numerous cryptocurrencies, allowing users to trade coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as many altcoins. Binance had been under watch by the Nigerian government for lending itself to suspicious transactions without trace.
From cryptocurrency, to foreign exchange transactions, transactions totaling over $21.6 billion passed through the Binance platform with no trace by the Nigerian government. The actors behind these transactions ranged from tech enthusiasts, kidnappers, businessmen, bandits, fraudsters, politicians and a long list of persons who were interested in having no traces of their transactions seen by others, let alone state officials. The question is why would anyone want to have their transactions hidden from the eyes of the government?
The Nigerian government wanted cooperation from Binance to gain visibility of users of its platform in the country, entailing who was using it and for what purposes. There was good cause for this. Banditry in Nigeria had been on an alarming rise. Kidnappers, too, were having a field day. They were able to launder proceeds of their crimes through the platform with no trace by the government.
It was for this reason that the government sought cooperation from Binance to help it trace the criminals that were using its platform.
And Binance is no stranger to investigations and requests for cooperation. As early as 2018, the US Department of Justice was investigating its platform for potential violations of US Anti-Money Laundering laws and sanctions compliance. Five years later, Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to charges that included operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. They paid a historic $4.3 billion in penalties for this.
Among the atrocities the company committed included facilitating trade with criminal actors including ransomware gangs. In 2023 they also were indicted by the US Treasury Department for willfully neglecting Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements that allowed illicit actors to operate freely on their platform. The US Securities and Exchange Commission did not spare Binance, too. In 2021, Germany had given them a warning. And in the same year, the United Kingdom had a tight leash on the platform’s activities.
The Nigerian government’s insistence on transparency and accountability was not an isolated incident. Binance has a notoriety for non-compliance with governments, and Nigeria was going to have none of that.
With Mr. Gambaryan in custody, the Nigerian government insisted on Binance providing it with details and oversight of activities. Binance through proxies and multiple campaigns tried to get their executive freed, after Nadeem Anjarwalla had escaped from a safe house where he had been kept by security operatives. All tricks in the book were played. None worked.
In fact, according to a Premium Times Exclusive report, senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, engaged their Nigerian counterparts, including Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, to press for the release of detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.
US lawmakers also intensified efforts with a congressional letter to President Biden urging Mr Gambaryan’s case to be treated as a hostage situation; they then followed with visits to Nigeria and a resolution in Congress calling for his immediate release.
The U.S. did not stop there. The country’s National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan called his Nigerian counterpart, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu on September 30, 2024. Premium Times reported that sources indicated to the newspaper that the U.S. softened its stance following this engagement. Previously, U.S. officials and Binance lawyers had approached the matter with a condescending tone, expecting American laws to take precedence. It appears that Mal. Ribadu gave his counterpart a stern position. Three days later, U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills Jr. reached out to Ribadu’s office, signaling a willingness to resume talks and find a resolution.
Throughout the engagement, Nigeria firmly asserted its sovereignty in response to the US pressure to release Tigran Gambaryan, rejecting claims that he was being held as a hostage and emphasizing that he was facing trial for financial crimes. This firm stance ultimately forced the US to adopt a more conciliatory approach, leading to negotiations that resulted in the eventual dismissal of charges and the release of Tigran Gambaryan, and an agreement by both countries on a deal that places Nigeria at a better position today than it was before the Binance arrests.
In the agreement, Nigeria insisted that any release of Mr. Gambaryan must be portrayed solely as a diplomatic gesture to the United States, and that his handover would be only to U.S. officials rather than directly to Binance. Nigeria also demanded unfettered U.S. cooperation in its law enforcement actions against Binance and other cryptocurrency firms, including clear identification of the U.S. Department of Justice officials who would provide technical assistance on Nigeria’s Binance investigation.
According to the report, a significant part of that deal was where Nigeria called for swift action to return roughly $380 million in seized assets, detailing amounts from cases involving payments by former NSA Sambo Dasuki, property forfeitures linked to Diezani Alison-Madueke and Jide Aluko, assets associated with Sani Abacha frozen in France, and a recent seizure from a former governor’s family.
Nigeria also requested that the U.S. formally submit its release demand in a letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu—also copied to the National Security Adviser, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Attorney General/Minister of Justice—while emphasizing that releasing Mr Gambaryan would not obstruct ongoing investigations and prosecutions against Binance and its officials.
US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills is reported to have communicated these terms to the US government, and within a few days the US had signed to them, leading to Mr. Gambaryan’s release on the 23rd of October, 2024. Remarkably, six days later, former US President, Joe Biden called President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to thank him for his release. Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs shared highlights of the call as thus: “The two leaders exchanged pleasantries, and President Biden proceeded to thank President Tinubu for his partnership and for Nigeria’s partnership, in particular the collaboration between the two countries with regards to our law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of one of the suspects of the cryptocurrency exchange company (Binance).”
That deal was a power move for Nigeria. It already has begun birthing results. Take for instance the US embassy in Nigeria announced the launch of the U.S.-Nigeria Bilateral Liaison Group on Illicit Finance and Cryptocurrencies; coincidentally this was announced on the same day that Mr. Gambaryan was released.
This partnership will see the US assist Nigeria to build its capacity to pursue cybercrime investigations and prosecutions. It is also expected that the two countries will cooperate in countering and responding to malicious cyber operations, cybercrime, and other digital harms.
This was not the only good that came out of the US deal with Nigeria. Funds totaling $6.02 million seized by American authorities nearly a decade ago, stemming from a botched arms deal was released to Nigeria by a Federal Court in Eastern California in late December as a result of the deal.
The money had been confiscated from an arms broker tasked with facilitating the sale of military equipment from the United States to Nigeria. The broker, lacking the requisite export licence, ran afoul of the US Arms Export Control Act. According to the US government, the intermediary’s unauthorised role in the sale, export, and delivery of military hardware to Nigeria triggered the seizure, freezing the funds in legal limbo. The US government had previously resisted Nigeria’s bid to recover the funds.
In another major gain from the deal, on January 10th, 2025, Nigeria secured the return of $52.88 million from the United States, a windfall tied to the kleptocratic excesses of former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and businessman Kola Aluko. The agreement, inked by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, and the US Ambassador, Richard Mills Jr., earmarks a portion, $50 million, for a rural electrification scheme, to be overseen by the World Bank, while the remaining $2.88 million will flow as a grant to the International Institute for Justice, that will fund a counter-terrorism initiative to train criminal-justice officials across East, West, and North Africa.
Driven by the National Security Adviser, with the collaboration of other senior government officials, very few Nigerians are talking about this deal. Fewer know about it. But it means a great deal to Nigeria, its relations with the US, and its ambitions to tackle challenges of economic sabotage and criminality. It will provide Nigeria the means to investigate Binance and those who have used its platforms to orchestrate crime in the country.
The collaboration that has come out of this deal further strengthens Nigeria’s institutional capacity to safeguard its economy from digital threats, ensuring that future financial crimes—whether involving cryptocurrency firms or other actors—are met with a coordinated and forceful response.
Beyond security, the deal yielded tangible financial benefits, unlocking long-contested funds that will directly support Nigeria’s development and security priorities. This agreement was more than a diplomatic resolution; it was a strategic victory that reinforced Nigeria’s position on the global stage, proving that with firm leadership, like that shown by Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser and a clear vision, the country can shape negotiations to serve its long-term security and economic interests.
Mohammed T. Abiodun, a historian writes from Abuja.