Key takeaways:
- Nadeem Anjarwalla was reportedly arrested in Kenya following his March departure from Nigeria.
- Following allegations that the exchange had manipulated the naira, the nation’s fiat currency, he first visited Nigeria in February with fellow Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.
Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Kenyan national with dual citizenship who works for cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was reportedly arrested in Kenya following his March departure from Nigeria.
Local police detained Anjarwalla on April 22 and may extradite the Binance CEO to Nigeria to face criminal charges, according to reports from multiple Kenyan news outlets. Using his Kenyan passport, Anjarwalla reportedly fled the nation on March 22 after being transported to a mosque for prayers and escaped from detention in Nigeria.
Following allegations that the exchange had manipulated the naira, the nation’s fiat currency, he first visited Nigeria in February with fellow Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan. Following Binance’s announcement that it planned to stop accepting naira transactions, authorities took both individuals into custody.
It’s not apparent how Anjarwalla got out of Nigeria. According to reports, he may have been able to leave Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, using his Kenyan passport, as officials just seized his travel documents from the United Kingdom.
In Anjarwalla’s absence, Nigerian authorities have proceeded with filing accusations against the exchange and Gambaryan. The Binance executive entered a not-guilty plea to the tax evasion and money laundering accusations. The matter is scheduled to return to court on April 19 following a brief postponement.
In addition, Gambaryan’s spouse has started a petition to bring him back to the US, arguing that he was an innocent man who was only a pawn in someone else’s scheme. Binance asked not to be held accountable for the exchange’s operations in Nigeria, claiming he had “no decision-making power in the company.”
After entering a guilty plea to a single felony charge, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the former CEO of Binance, is scheduled to be sentenced in the US on April 30 in a different case. He might spend as much as ten years behind bars.
