‘Falsehoods: ‘ FG Reacts to Binance Executive’s, Gambaryan Unsubstantiated Bribe Allegations

• Gambaryan claimed that three Nigerian lawmakers, Philip Agbese, Ginger Onwusibe, and Peter Akpanke, demanded a $150 million bribe from him.
• Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in a statement, urged the public to disregard the “false” accusations.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has issued a response to allegations made by Tigran Gambaryan, Head of Financial Crime Compliance at the cryptocurrency firm Binance.

Eko Hot Blog reports that in a recent post on X, Gambaryan claimed that three Nigerian lawmakers, Philip Agbese, Ginger Onwusibe, and Peter Akpanke, demanded a $150 million bribe from him.

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Gambaryan, who previously spent eight months in Nigerian detention due to alleged corruption, did not provide any evidence to support his accusations.

“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 $150m bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Micky Mouse operation at its best,” Gambaryan’s post on X read in part.

Reacting to the development, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in a statement, urged the public to disregard the “false” accusations.

The statement reads: “The Federal Government of Nigeria notes with concern the outrageous allegations, misinformation, and defamatory statements being disseminated by Tigran Gambaryan, an American personnel of Binance who was recently tried in Nigeria for financial crimes.

“While the Federal Government of Nigeria is hesitant to engage Mr. Gambaryan, given the high-level diplomatic intervention that resolved his case, we are obliged to set the records straight to stop his falsehoods from gaining grounds.

“The first visit by Mr. Gambaryan and his colleagues to Nigeria was discretional on their part and Government was not officially involved. However, when the attention of the Government was called to an alleged bribery demand during that trip an investigation was immediately opened into it though there was no formal complaint by anyone.

“Mr. Gambaryan’s second visit to Nigeria was part of a wider probe into the criminal manipulation of the Nigerian currency through peer-to-peer platforms like Binance, but investigators were frustrated by the tactics deployed by Gambaryan and his team.

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“Mr. Gambaryan was released by the Nigerian government in October 2024 on humanitarian grounds and following a high-level diplomatic intervention that ended with tangible benefits for Nigeria.

The government rejected Binance’s offer of a $5 million down payment in exchange for Mr. Gambaryan’s freedom, in favour of a more beneficial settlement with the American government.

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