Binance Executive to Stay in Nigerian Custody Until May 17 Bail Hearing

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Local media reports confirmed that the Binance executive will remain in jail under the custody of Nigerian authorities before the hearing on his bail. 

Binance is a top-ranked crypto exchange, which is mainly known for its highly secured & easy crypto trading services globally. Over the last couple of years, the situation for this exchange was not much better to operate services. In 2023, Binance settled its case with a multi-billion dollar fine with the US authorities and also its co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stepped down from the CEO role, as a part of the settlement. At present, Richard Teng is the CEO of this exchange & trying to lead the exchange in his best approach. 

As we know a couple of months ago, the Nigerian authorities detained two Binance executives, namely U.S. citizen Tigran Gambaryan and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla. 

In March, Anjarwalla reportedly escaped Nigeria custody. So far he is out of reach & also this act acted as another big problem over the relationship between Binance & Nigerian authorities.

As per local media reports, Gambaryan’s Detention in Nigeria’s Kuje prison was extended until 17 May pending a bail decision by the Judge. 

It means Gambaryan will remain in jail until 17 May & after that, his bail approval or rejection will depend upon the court hearing, on behalf of debate over evidence & facts over the charges.

Before this, Gambaryan was supposed to go back to court on 19 April but it got delayed. Officially they were going to talk about his bail on 22 April. Gambaryan says they didn’t do anything wrong and is accused of not paying taxes and laundering money by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. They have a trial set for May 2. 

On this matter, the Binance team failed to talk officially. Last week, in Dubai, Binance CEO Richard Teng said that they were in close talk on this matter with the Nigerian authorities to settle the case but he failed to disclose any details of the case.

Binance vs Philippines 

On 23 April 2024, The Philippines SEC body raised concerns against Binance over selling crypto securities in the country without proper registration and authorization.

Apple & Google have been ordered by the authorities to remove the Binance app from their corresponding app stores for the Philippines users. 

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