Tigran Gambaryan, a former US federal agent and Binance employee has named three Nigerian lawmakers who allegedly demanded a $150 million bribe from him.
Gambaryan, who was detained in February 2024 and later released in October following diplomatic intervention from the US government, made the revelation in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
While Gambaryan was in Nigerian prison, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance Holdings Ltd, Richard Teng alleged that Nigerian authorities demanded the sum of $150million in cryptocurrency as a bribe to make the money laundering trial initiated against two of its executives go away. This allegation was strongly denied by the Nigerian Government.
Reacting to the bribery allegation, the spokesman for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Zakari Mijinyawa, said in a text message to newsmen that the Nigerian government would make its case “on the strength of the facts and evidence, in accordance with due process.”
Mijinyawa further said, “We are confident that Nigeria has a good case. Binance equally will have every opportunity under the rule of law to make its case and see justice delivered.”
However, in a shocking revelation on Friday morning, Gambaryan narrated how members of the Nigerian House of Representatives allegedly tried to extort Binance by orchestrating a staged meeting.
He specifically named Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, stating that they operated under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. He also mentioned a third unidentified lawmaker involved in the scheme.
He said: “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.
“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 cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best.”
He also detailed how the government allegedly tried to manipulate the investigation into Binance to fabricate a narrative that Binance was responsible for an alleged outflow of $26 billion from Nigeria.
He wrote, “The $26 billion figure they kept pushing publicly as some mystery money escaping Nigeria is complete BS. This information was provided in response to their request and was simply cumulative trade data for Nigerians on the platform. This money didn’t leave Nigeria—it was just people buying and selling crypto. For example, if you trade $100 a hundred times, that’s $10,000 in trade volume, but in reality, you only used $100. Again, just another example of them lying to cover up their BS investigation.
“They lied about Nadeem escaping during mosque prayers. In reality, he returned and escaped afterward. I don’t know exactly how he managed to flee. He emailed me in November, but we haven’t discussed the details of his escape.
“It’s possible he paid someone off, but I have no proof. If Belloji had simply checked his passport for a visa, he would have realized that Nadeem did not use that passport to travel to Nigeria.
“They sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy and the British High Commission, falsely claiming that we were voluntarily participating in strategic talks. This was a blatant lie.
“Nadeem did not escape lawful detention—we were being held illegally. Belloji even admitted that he would fabricate evidence to obtain a court order to detain us for 14 days. Once the court order expired, they were unable to get an extension from the judge. At that point, they continued holding us illegally and had no justification for doing so.
“There was a lot of noise about using Interpol to capture Nadeem. As someone who has been involved in multiple extradition cases, I can confidently say this was a joke. Extradition is a lengthy legal process, and no rational judge in Kenya or wherever would ever approve extradition for someone who escaped illegal detention at the hands of rogue law enforcement—especially when that detention involved holding employees hostage to pressure their employer. All noise.
“They tried to use us to violate international privacy laws by demanding user data on all Nigerians to target opposition members allegedly “manipulating the price of the naira.”
In early 2024, Gambaryan travelled to Nigeria to address regulatory concerns between Binance and the Nigerian government. During this visit, Gambaryan and his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were detained by Nigerian authorities on allegations of money laundering and tax evasion.
Gambaryan was held in Kuje Prison for eight months under harsh conditions, including severe health issues. He was eventually released in late 2024 following diplomatic interventions from the U.S. government.
In May 2024, Binance CEO Richard Teng publicly accused Nigerian officials of demanding a $150 million bribe in cryptocurrency to dismiss the charges against the company. Teng claimed that after initial meetings, representatives were approached with offers to settle the issues in exchange for the payment.
The Nigerian government denied these allegations, labelling them as diversionary tactics and blackmail attempts by Binance to deflect from the serious criminal charges it faced.
Gambaryan corroborated these claims, detailing how Nigerian lawmakers and security agencies attempted to coerce Binance into providing access to its Nigerian user database.
