Binance Says It Was Asked for âSecretâ Payment Over Nigeria Woes.
âAs our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegationsâ â Binance CEO, Richard Teng.
Later that day, Binanceâs local lawyer was âpresented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go awayâ â Binance CEO, Richard Teng.
Richard Teng, the firmâs chief executive officer (CEO), made the claim in a blog post shared with TheCable on Tuesday.
On February 28, the federal government detained two top executives of Binance as part of a probe bordering on illegal operations in the country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.
The detained executives included Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binanceâs regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binanceâs head of financial crime compliance.
Nigeriaâs government, on March 25, filed a criminal charge against Binance for âtax evasionâ â the same period Anjarwalla fled detention.
Speaking on Binanceâs issues with the Nigerian government, Teng detailed how the worldâs largest cryptocurrency exchange tried to engage with the authorities, including a meeting on January 8 in Abuja, where it was confronted with criminal allegations.
Teng said despite multiple requests, Binance has still not received details of the allegations, âand our employees, therefore, inquired if there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence of a public hearingâ.
âThere were a number of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response,â he said.
âThe meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binanceâs local counsel.
âHowever, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.
âLater that day, our local counsel â representing us at that time â was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committeeâs terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.
âCounsel reported back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away and that our decision was expected by the morning.
âOur team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed.â
Teng said the request was declined âvia our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offerâ.
The CEO said Binance clarified that it would engage in settlement negotiations on the conditions that the relevant petition or the details of all allegations were seen.
In addition, he said any settlement âmust be official, recorded in writing, and signed by all relevant partiesâ.