Binance Nigeria: Authorities Charge Exchange and Detained Executives with Laundering $35 Million
Nigerian authorities are stacking charges against Binance. (Photo by Olukayode Kaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
- Nigerian authorities have placed A fifth charge against Binance and two of its senior executives.
- An international arrest warrant has been issued for one of the escaped execs.
- A court hearing should take place within the next week.
Nigerian authorities are looking to charge Binance, the detained Tigran Gambryan, and the now ‘on-the-run’ Nadeem Anjarwalla for allegedly laundering $35.4 million.
Nigeria’s Federal Government has now contacted INTERPOL and issued an arrest warrant for escapee Anjarwalla. As matters continue to escalate, it looks like investigators may have unearthed the evidence they needed to indict both the exchange and its two employees.
A Fifth Charge
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is seeking to charge Binance and two senior executives with money laundering case.
A source told PUNCH:
“The detained Binance executive, Gambaryan, is now in the custody of the EFCC. The NSA has handed over the matter to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution. The commission has charged Binance, Gambaryan, and Anjarwalla to court for $35,400,000 money laundering, and they’ll be arraigned in court on Thursday, April 4, 2024,”
Following their takeover of the case and investigation into Binance’s financial activities, the EFCC had, so far, filed four charges against Binance. The latest, and fifth, accuses Binance of concealing the origin of $35.4 million in revenue, knowing they were the proceeds of illegal activities.
This comes after months of heavy allegations from Nigerian authorities, who believe Binance Nigeria manipulated the naira and damaged the Nigerian economy by capping peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of naira to stablecoin Tether (USDT), as well as processing tens of billions in unknown funds, amongst numerous other charges.
In the wake of Nadeem Anjarwalla’s escape, authorities have contacted INTERPOL and issued an arrest warrant for the exec, seeming to have now ramped up efforts to uncover the truth of Binance’s allegedly illegal activities in Nigeria.
Binance Nigeria’s “Financial Irregularities”
Binance, and the two executives – as named in the court filings – have two related charges for conducting “specialized” business and the “business of other financial institution (other than insurance, stockbroking and pension fund management)” without a valid license.
The third count states that Binance is not an “authorized dealer” in the nation’s foreign exchange market. It also says the exchange used its platform to “unlawfully negotiate exchange rates”.
The fourth, accuses Binance of conspiring to conceal the origins of its funds from the proceeds of “unlawful activities”. This is punishable under Nigerian anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
Interestingly, details on the ‘smoking gun’ authorities are seeking remained ambiguous at best, at least until the fifth charge. Here, the authorities seem to have discovered a solid figure of $35.4 million on which they can pin additional charges.
A Wanted Man
Anjarwalla escaped from his detainment in a guarded safe house before boarding a Middle East airliner by using a smuggled passport, according to authorities. Now, they have put out an international arrest warrant for Anjarwalla, bringing INTERPOL into the matter.
“Security agencies are working with INTERPOL for an international arrest warrant on the suspect. Preliminary investigation shows that Mr Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport.”
https://twitter.com/SundiataPostNgr/status/1774443382342836599
The pair of execs were initially scheduled to appear in court again on April 4. However, after a recent lawsuit against the Nigerian government by Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, this was postponed until April 6.
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