Nigeria Drops Tax Evasion Charges Against Binance Executives

In a significant development on Friday, Nigeria dropped tax evasion charges against two Binance executives following the appointment of a local representative by the world's largest crypto exchange to handle all court processes related to the allegations.

The executives, Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crimes compliance at Binance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan national and regional manager for Africa, had both denied the tax evasion charges. Binance responded positively to the court decision, stating it showed that Gambaryan was "not a decision-maker at Binance and does not need to be held in order for Binance to resolve issues with the Nigerian government."

A Binance spokesperson added, "We await the court’s ruling on this, discharging Tigran from this matter completely."

Gambaryan has been in custody since February, while Anjarwalla left Nigeria in March. The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria removed both executives as defendants in the tax evasion case. However, Binance, along with Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, still faces separate money laundering charges, which Binance asserts should also be dropped. Both Gambaryan and Anjarwalla deny these allegations as well.

Nigeria has held Binance partly responsible for its currency troubles, as cryptocurrency platforms became popular venues for trading the Nigerian naira amidst the country's chronic dollar shortages, causing the naira to plummet to a record low.

By fLEXI tEAM