Congressman Blames Crypto Apathy for Slow US Response to Jailed Binance Exec

Binance executive and American citizen Tigran Gambaryan has been held in Nigerian custody for eight months. Amid a growing chorus of supporters pushing for Gambaryan’s release, Congressman Rich McCormick has emerged as one of his most prominent advocates.

Following last week’s vote in the U.S. Congress Foreign Affairs Committee for a resolution asking for Garbaryan’s “immediate release,” McCormick told Decrypt that he believes the detention is unlawful—and that the U.S. government hasn’t acted faster due to crypto-related "laziness" or apathy, combined with the Biden administration’s “soft” approach to international policy.

Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance and a former IRS agent, was invited to Nigeria for a meeting in February where he was detained and forced to surrender his passport—alongside a colleague who has since escaped custody and fled the country.

Binance and Gambaryan were charged with tax evasion and money laundering, although the former charge was later dropped against the executive.

Last week, McCormick—Gambaryan’s representative for the state of Georgia—put forward a resolution that would deem Nigeria’s move to hold the executive as unlawful. This push comes from just a handful of U.S. politicians—but why have so many others turned a blind eye to this case?

“Some [politicians] are not paying attention because there’s a lot of things going on this election cycle. People are distracted. It’s easy to ignore one person or one family,” McCormick told Decrypt.

“But also crypto is something that’s very, very misunderstood still,” he added. “There’s been some laziness, quite frankly, looking into the details of the case.”

The Congressman is fighting for Gambaryan to be declared as a “citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government” under the Levinson Act. This is the same act that helped WNBA star Brittney Griner secure her release from Russia after she was accused of transporting illegal narcotics.

The U.S. government agreed in 2022 to exchange the two-time Olympic gold medalist for arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” after she spent 10 months in jail.

Gambaryan has faced multiple health challenges during his detainment. During one court hearing, the executive was called to step forward, but he could not stand independently and collapsed to the floor. This is likely the result of a herniated disc, which has left him immobile—footage recently surfaced of him requiring assistance to walk.

He has also tested positive for malaria, and according to a Committee on Foreign Affairs document, Gambaryan has not received proper treatment while in custody.

“We’ve gone to bat for a young, healthy individual, and we’re not going to bat for somebody who is in poor health?” McCormick told Decrypt. “That seems a bit hypocritical.” 

McCormick believes that Griner received favorable treatment because she’s a celebrity, as bringing her home was set as a “priority” by the U.S. Secretary of State just five months after she was detained. 

But he also attributes the slow movement on Gambaryan to the tone of Biden’s international policy, the Congressman said.

“I think you'll find this administration, specifically, has had a hard time playing the hard line against governments in general. We don't like to put a lot of leverage on Iran, Russia, China,” McCormick said. “I’m just saying the administration has been more soft [than previous governments].”

“They're afraid of upsetting Nigeria. They don't want to jump the gun on a case that has not been fully tried yet,” McCormick said. But equally, he believes, the Nigerian government is dragging its heels with the case as “they know they’re wrong.”

McCormick explains that when he first heard of the case, he was “hesitant” as he didn’t want to defend someone who had done wrong to the Nigerian government. However, as soon as he started looking at the facts of the case, it became “as clear cut as it can be” that Gambaryan was innocent and should be immediately released from custody.

“Whether you want to put Binance on notice or not, that’s not up to me. But don’t lure somebody who came in good faith,” McCormick told Decrypt, “and then all of a sudden trump up some charges so you can hold him hostage to basically go after Binance.”

How can this all be resolved? The first step is for Gambaryan to be declared a “citizen wrongfully detained,” which will put pressure on the Nigerian government to return him safely. As we saw in the Griner case, being defined as such doesn’t always result in the immediate return of the individual. The Russian government demanded the exchange of one of its imprisoned citizens, but McCormick thinks this is a slippery slope.

“It's a horrible precedent,” McCormick said. “I would punish these countries, literally. Do you want to play that kind of game? The United States has more leverage than any other country—a $27 trillion economy. Name one country that's close.”

“Is it worth it to pick a fight with the United States over one guy who you're unlawfully holding?” McCormick finished. “Is it worth it to ruin your reputation, to ruin maybe your economy, because you're screwing with somebody you shouldn't be screwing with?”

Edited by Andrew Hayward