Binance executive accuses House of Reps members of demanding $150m bribe

By Chinelo Obogo

Tigran Gambaryan, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Binance executive who was detained in Nigeria for several months, has made explosive allegations against members of the House of Representatives.

In a series of posts on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account, the 39-year-old Armenian-American claimed that lawmakers demanded a $150 million bribe from him and his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, during a meeting in January 2024. 

He detailed how the Binance team was instructed by the Department of State Services (DSS) to comply with the demands of House of Representatives members during a meeting on Friday, January 5, 2024.  According to Gambaryan, three lawmakers were present at the meeting: Peter Akpanke, Philip Agbese, and a third unnamed person, under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. He described the meeting as a staged event, with fake cameras and media setup to create the appearance of an official proceeding. However, he claimed the cameras were reportedly not even plugged in. 

“The DSS was involved in the House of Representatives matter. We met with them at their office on Friday, January 5, 2024, as a prerequisite to our meeting with the House of Representatives. They alluded to the fact that we had to comply with whatever the House members instructed us to do,” Gambaryan wrote. 

He continued, “At the House meeting, there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name. They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in. As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in crypto currency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best.” 

In 2023, the Federal Government accused Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, of money laundering, tax evasion, and contributing to the sharp devaluation of the naira. As the naira lost value, many Nigerians turned to crypto currency as a hedge against the currency’s decline, leading to a surge in demand for blockchain-based stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. 

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were sent to Nigeria to represent Binance after the company was summoned by the Federal Government to address the allegations. However, upon arrival, they were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. The two executives were held in a government-owned compound in Abuja, where they were denied access to their passports and kept under military guard. 

Gambaryan vehemently denied the allegations against Binance, calling the $26 billion figure cited by the government as “complete nonsense.” He explained that the figure represented cumulative trade volumes on the platform, not actual capital flight.