Tigran Gambaryan, the Head of Financial Crime Compliance at Binance, has reaffirmed his claims that three Nigerian lawmakers—Ginger Onwusibe, Philip Agbese, and Peter Akpanke—demanded a $150 million bribe to prevent his arrest and prosecution for alleged financial crimes in Nigeria.
In a post on his X account on Friday, Gambaryan alleged that the lawmakers instructed him to transfer the money to their cryptocurrency wallets.
As of the time of this report, Onwusibe and Agbese have publicly denied the accusations and are considering legal action against him.
On Saturday, Gambaryan addressed the issue again on X, stating that his earlier post was intended to clarify details left out by recent reports from Wired and NPR.
He described 2024 as a painful year for him and his family, recalling his past career as a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a compliance professional. He expressed gratitude to the U.S. government for intervening in his case.
“Being dragged through court on outrageous, baseless, and trumped-up charges didn’t just hurt me—it also brought immense pain to my family,” he wrote.
Gambaryan shared his distress over the impact of his legal troubles on his loved ones, saying he did not want to see his children, wife, or elderly mother suffer because of his ordeal.
He insisted that his allegations were truthful and based on his personal experiences and conversations with individuals who had firsthand knowledge of the events. He added that the information had been shared with law enforcement agencies in both Nigeria and the U.S.
Now out of law enforcement, Gambaryan said it was up to authorities in both countries to take the matter to its logical conclusion, as he sought to move on from the experience.
