Andy Greenberg, author of "Tracers in the Dark," said that Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance employee imprisoned in Nigeria, was the most prominent crypto crime investigator during his career with the U.S. federal government. Greenberg shared his statement during an October 1 podcast.
"Tigran Gambaryan truly is, I would say, the top federal agent in history, by many measures, when it comes to cryptocurrency criminal investigations," said Greenberg. "He pioneered cryptocurrency tracing as a law enforcement investigative technique and had a hand in most of the biggest cryptocurrency criminal takedowns ever in law enforcement over the course of his decade-long career in federal government."
According to a resolution filed by Gambaryan's Congressman advocating for his release, Gambaryan spent over ten years as an investigator for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), seizing more than $4 billion in "illicit funds" on behalf of the U.S. government. In February, Nigerian officials invited Gambaryan to participate in compliance discussions regarding Binance's operations in Nigeria; however, he was detained and charged with financial crimes after being held without "Nigerian legal basis" for several weeks. While imprisoned, Gambaryan has reportedly been denied appropriate access to his legal team and adequate medical treatment.
In June, sixteen members of Congress wrote a letter urging President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens to classify Gambaryan as a "U.S. Citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government" and escalate his case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. They emphasized that Gambaryan's detention "has been marked by excessive and harsh treatment." The lawmakers asserted that the charges against him are baseless and constitute a coercion tactic by the Nigerian government to extort Binance.
Later in June, over 100 former federal agents and prosecutors wrote a letter urging the State Department to intensify efforts to secure Gambaryan's release. They said that after being held for almost a month without charges filed, he is now facing false charges related to money laundering and tax evasion. The former agents said he is innocent of these charges and does not hold a role at Binance that makes him an appropriate stand-in for the company. They called on Blinken to leverage U.S. diplomacy to demand and secure Gambaryan's immediate release.
Binance CEO Richard Teng expressed in August that the Nigerian government's treatment of Gambaryan is unjust and asked the U.S. to intensify efforts to bring him home. Teng described Gambaryan as a proud American who should not be subject to such treatment and hoped that U.S. authorities could exert their political will to reunite him with his family soon.
Greenberg is noted as an award-winning author whose book describes the work of investigators, including Gambaryan, who have tracked down criminals using cryptocurrency for illicit purposes.
