A cryptocurrency bribe of $150 million was reportedly demanded by the Nigerian government from Binance Limited.
The New York Times disclosed this information on Tuesday in a report titled ‘Behind Nigeria’s Arrest of Binance Employee, Claims of a Bribe’.
According to NYT, quoting Richard Teng’s recent blog post on the allegation, a government official’s proxy asked for the bribe after a meeting between Nigerian lawmakers in January 2024, leading to the subsequent arrest of Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla in February.
Citing Teng, the report mentioned that the agent demanded “a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away,” with the amount set at approximately $150 million.
“Our team became increasingly worried about their safety in Nigeria and promptly left,” Mr. Teng stated in his post. “We rejected the payment demand via our legal representatives, deeming it an illegitimate settlement proposal.”
Meanwhile, in March, the House of Representatives ordered the arrest of Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, due to their failure to personally respond to an invitation.
Previously, the Nigerian government and Binance had conflicts when Central of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso claimed that $26 billion had been funneled through Binance without a trace.
Subsequently, the Nigerian government imposed restrictions on the operations of Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms.
It is worth noting that following their attempt to negotiate with the Nigerian government, the two Binance executives were detained in February.
While Anjarwalla remains at large, Gambaryan was charged in April with tax evasion and other offenses.
The hearing for his case has been adjourned until May 17, 2024.
Moreover, as part of efforts to stabilize the Naira, the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently removed the Naira from Peer-to-peer platforms like Cryptocurrency businesses.