The Nigerian authorities have dropped money laundering charges against the Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, according to a Premium Times report on Wednesday morning. 

According to the report, a lawyer representing the prosecutor, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja Wednesday morning.

Recall that Tigran Gambaryan, a United States citizen, has been in detention since February, and has been facing a money laundering trial from detention since April. Having spent over 8 months in detention, there were calls locally and internationally for an amicable settlement of the case considering the reports about the deteriorating health conditions of the accused. 

In June, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) dropped tax evasion charges against Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla (who fled from detention) and filed a new lawsuit against Binance as the sole defendant.

Nigeria drops charges against Tigran Gambaryan 

According to reports, the Wednesday hearing came two days before October 25 which was the earlier scheduled date for the trial. This move was reportedly made to subvert public attention.

The lawyer representing the EFCC while announcing the withdrawal of charges said Tigran Gambaryan was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for. Also, the lawyer said Mark Mordi (SAN) representing Tigran has agreed with the prosecution, saying that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.

The Premium Times report stated that the Wednesday hearing was a climax of the behind-the-scenes diplomatic lobbying that had been ongoing between Nigerian and the US government figures for months for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, who has been denied bail on two occasions.

It is worthy of note that several weeks before this time, there have been campaigns by some US lawmakers for the release of Tigran.

Recall that on October 11, the judge at Federal High Court in Abuja Emeka Nwite, rejected Tigran’s second bail application, ruling that Mr Gambaryan’s grounds of ill health were not sufficient to release him from detention. Subsequently, he fixed last Friday (October 18) for continuation but Tigran was absent.

He then rescheduled the trial for this coming Friday (October 25) but this has now been overtaken by the clandestine hearing on Wednesday morning which has now ended the case.

Tigran Gambaryan, who has been held at the Kuje Correctional Center Abuja since April can now return home to his family, as a free man.

FIRS charges against Binance 

Binance is still facing tax evasion charges in a separate case before another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Recall that in March 2024, the FIRS filed tax evasion charges against Binance, and named Gambaryan and Anjarwalla as the second and third defendants, alleging that the cryptocurrency platform violated four tax laws. The authority accused Binance of failing to register with the authorities for tax purposes, violating Nigeria’s tax law.

In a statement in April, Binance stated that Tigran Gambaryan is not a decision-maker at Binance and should not be detained as the case progresses. 

Later in June, the FIRS dropped tax evasion charges against Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwallan, confirmed Ayodele Omotilewa as Binance’s representative and filed a new charge, this time with the exchange as the sole defendant.

It now remains to be seen if the charge against Binance will also be dropped as part of the resolution process of the case.