Binance’s Head of Financial Crimes Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, has reiterated his allegation that some lawmakers in the House of Representatives demanded a bribe of $150 million to secure his release.
Gambaryan disclosed that he was released because the then United States President, Joe Biden, gave his release as a condition to meet with President Bola Tinubu during last year’s United Nations General Assembly.
In a statement on his X handle, on Friday, titled ‘Some Unknown Facts’, the Binance Chief alleged that in collaboration with Department of State Sevices (DSS), House members, Peter Akpanke, Philip Agbese and Ginger Obinna Onwusibe demanded $150 million bribe from him to be paid in cryptocurrency to their wallets.
“The DSS was involved in the House of Representatives matter. We met with them at their office on Friday, January 5, 2024, as a prerequisite to our meeting with the House of Representatives. They alluded to the fact that we had to comply with whatever the House members instructed us to do.
“At the House meeting, there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name. They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in. 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,” he stated.
The Binance chief also explained that the allegation from Nigerian government that the country lost $26 billion was a false claim.
He claimed that the federal government’s claim of investigating the missing money was false too. He stated that no money left Nigeria.
“@Nuhu Ribadu Nuhu Ribadu invited us to the official meeting and worked through Sa’ad Abubakar. Another key figure in this situation was Hamma Adama Belloji. Ogunjobi was just a pawn; they used him too. This was a sold as a friendly meeting with the NSA, the head of the SEC, and the CBN governor and include the discussion of the bribe that was solicited by the House of Representatives.
“The $26 billion figure they kept pushing publicly as some mystery money escaping Nigeria is complete BS (bull shit). This information was provided in response to their request and was simply cumulative trade data for Nigerians on the platform. This money didn’t leave Nigeria—it was just people buying and selling crypto. For example, if you trade $100 a hundred times, that’s $10,000 in trade volume, but in reality, you only used $100. Again, just another example of them lying to cover up their BS (bull shit) investigation,” he stated.
Gambaryan added that the nation’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, demanded money to fund his political ambition.
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