Detained American Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan had to be pushed into a Abuja, Nigeria courtroom today in a wheelchair after a herniated disc in his back left him in severe pain and “hardly able to walk,” according to a Monday report from his family.
Gambaryan’s health has steadily deteriorated since he was detained in Nigeria in February. At first, Gambaryan was placed under home detention but was later transferred to the notoriously dangerous Kuje prison – which holds violent criminals including members of the Boko Haram terrorist group – after his colleague and fellow detainee, British-Kenyan citizen Nadeem Anjarwalla, escaped.
Gambaryan, a former Internal Revenue Service agent and Binance’s current head of financial crime compliance, voluntarily traveled to Nigeria in February to meet with government officials. He was subsequently detained without explanation and later charged with money laundering and tax evasion – essentially as a scapegoat for his employer, which Nigerian officials have accused of tanking the value of the naira. The tax evasion charges against Gambaryan were later dropped. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Since his transfer to Kuje prison, Gambaryan is believed to have contracted malaria and suffered double pneumonia, complained of numbness in his foot, and has collapsed in court at least once. The judge overseeing Gambaryan’s money laundering trial has issued a court order to officials at Kuje prison to release his medical records, but they have not complied.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Gambaryan’s wife Yuki said she was “heartbroken to see my once fit and healthy husband reduced to such a condition.”
“This ordeal has taken a severe toll on him, leaving him in so much pain that he can hardly walk,” she said in the statement. “I do not understand why this is being allowed to continue,” she continued. “Tigran is innocent. All he did was dutifully travel to Nigeria for a meeting.. “Now our lives have been turned upside down and his health is at serious risk. I am pleading with the Nigerian authorities to urgently release my husband on humanitarian grounds. This situation is destroying him. I need him safely home with us right now.”
The Biden Administration has come under fire for seemingly doing little to aid Gambaryan.
Two members of Congress, Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.) visited Gambaryan in prison last month, and asked the U.S. embassy to advocate for his humanitarian release due to the “horrible conditions in the prison, his innocence and his health.”
Hill was one of the 12 signatories on a letter from members of Congress to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger D. Carstens urging Gambaryan’s case to be treated as a hostage situation.
A State Department spokesperson told CoinDesk earlier this year that the department was “aware of reports” of Gambaryan’s detention, while a White House spokesperson later referred CoinDesk back to the State Department.
Without intervention, Gambaryan will likely be stuck in Kuje prison through the fall. His money laundering trial has been adjourned to October while the Nigerian courts close for the summer.
