Binance’s head of financial crime compliance reportedly appeared at a Nigerian court hearing on Thursday following charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
Nigerian prosecutors have asked that Tigran Gambaryan, Nadeem Anjarwalla and Binance itself be put on trial for operating without the required license, unlawfully negotiating foreign exchange rates, tax evasion and concealing the origin of illegal proceeds and revenue of $35.4 million, according to a report from Associated Press.
However, only Gambaryan appeared in court, as his colleague Anjarwalla fled Nigerian custody last month.
A spokesperson for Anjarwalla said,
“Nadeem left unlawful custody on Saturday [March 23rd], he was not being tried by Nigerian courts and has not been informed of any charges against him.”
Gambaryan is expected to be formally arraigned for the money laundering and tax charges on April 8th and 19th, respectively, reports Reuters.
Nigeria has struggled with rampant inflation, pushing many of its citizens to use Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to hedge against the dramatic devaluation of the naira.
BTC is currently up about 800% in naira terms of the last year.
However, Nigerian authorities have blamed Binance for much of their currency troubles and demanded that the exchange pay nearly $10 billion in fines on allegations that it manipulated the exchange rate of its fiat currency.
Following the charges, Binance discontinued support for the naira on its platforms.
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