Binance's executive said that three lawmakers asked for a $150m bribe during a dispute with Nigeria.

 

Tigran Gambaryan, an executive at Binance Holdings Limited, has accused three Nigerian federal lawmakers of demanding a $150 million bribe during the dispute between the cryptocurrency firm and the Nigerian government.

 

According to Gambaryan, the legislators asked for payment to be made in cryptocurrency and deposited into their personal digital wallets.

 

The Nigerian government held the executive from February to October 2024 because of Binance's operations in the country. In February 2024, Nadeem Anjarwalla, and he, along with Binance's regional manager for Africa, traveled to Nigeria to meet with government officials.

 

Binance was accused by the federal government of manipulating foreign exchange (FX) rates and having a negative impact on the Nigerian economy. Anjarwalla's escape in March 2024 left Gambaryan to face prosecution alone.

 

In a post on social media platform X on Friday, Gambaryan revealed that he and Anjarwalla had initially met with Department of State Services (DSS) officials in January 2024 as a prerequisite to a meeting with members of the House of Representatives. He asserted that the DSS instructed them to comply with any demands made by the lawmakers.

 

“At the House meeting, there were three members present. They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in,” Gambaryan wrote.

 

“As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best.”

 

Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance, claimed that unidentified individuals in Nigeria demanded $150 million in digital currency to address the company's legal problems in the country in May 2024.

 

Binance has been accused by the Nigerian government of trying to blackmail the country, but they have denied the allegations.