From Prison to Twitter: Binance’s Tigran Spills the Tea

Imagine being treated like a caged animal in a foreign land, all because you were doing your job. That’s exactly what happened to Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive and US citizen, who spent over eight months in a Nigerian prison.

In a recent tweetstorm, Tigran opened up about his harrowing experience, which he described as “so fud up.” It all started when he was invited to Nigeria for a meeting with government officials, only to be arrested on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

Tigran accused the Nigerian government and officers of DSS (security services of Nigeria) of trying to extort $150 million from Binance by making him a scapegoat. While Nigeria has dropped money laundering charges against Tigran, they maintain that Binance has conducted unreported crypto transactions worth $26 billion from Nigeria.

In a heart-wrenching statement on X (formerly Twitter), Gambaryan recounted his painful ordeal during his 214-day detention in Nigeria. He expressed deep emotional distress about the suffering his imprisonment caused his family.

Many requested that I stay on and provide further commentary on the issues I posted about yesterday. Here’s the hard truth: what I shared was meant to fill in the gaps left by Wired and NPR’s reporting.

The reality is that last year was incredibly painful for me and my family. I…

— Tigran Gambaryan (@TigranGambaryan) February 15, 2025

Gambaryan revealed how his wrongful detention, based on dubious charges of financial irregularities related to Binance’s operations, severely impacted his family’s well-being. He shared how videos of his mother and wife in tears, along with his own struggles in custody, added to the pain. In a candid post, he urged to put this nightmare behind him and emphasized how difficult it was to endure seeing his loved ones suffer.

On September 2, 2024, a viral video showed Gambaryan limping toward a court hearing, visibly in pain, yelling at Nigerian officials. “This is so fud up!” he screamed, expressing frustration at the harsh treatment and lack of assistance. Despite his deteriorating health, including a need for urgent surgery for a herniated disc, Gambaryan’s bail was contested, and his medical records were delayed.

His case suffered from political and legal complications due to the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which downplayed the seriousness of his medical state. The extended court proceedings create ongoing distress which affects Gambaryan as well as all members of his family who face psychological harm because of his unfair judicial process.

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2025-02-15 16:36