AILSA CHANG, HOST:
We turn now to Nigeria, where an American man is caught up in a dispute between the government and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Nigeria accuses Binance of tanking its currency. And now some U.S. lawmakers say that Nigeria is effectively holding hostage an American who is the company's head of financial crime compliance. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Yuki Gambaryan was used to her husband's travels. A former investigator with the IRS, Tigran Gambaryan specialized in cybercrime and cryptocurrencies, and he was often on the road. When he left for Nigeria, it was the middle of the night, and she was in bed.
YUKI GAMBARYAN: I stayed in bed, never said a goodbye. And that's something I regretted every single day.
KELEMEN: Her husband traveled to Nigeria at the invitation of the government in late February. She soon learned that he had been detained, along with a colleague who later managed to escape. Fort-year-old Tigran Gambaryan was then moved to a high-security prison. Nigeria accuses Binance of money laundering and says Gambaryan has been given due process. But Yuki Gambaryan says the case is against the company, not her husband.
GAMBARYAN: Binance is an online entity, and there's nothing to hold onto. And Tigran is the only tangible thing that the Nigerians can hold onto. That's why he's still there. They think once they release Tigran, Binance would just basically say we're out, too.
KELEMEN: She's worried about his health. She says in their most recent phone call, he told her that his herniated disc was flaring up.
GAMBARYAN: He said his back hurt so much that he could barely walk now. So that got me worried that this might leave some permanent damage.
KELEMEN: The State Department says consular officials have been able to visit him and have raised the case with Nigeria. Congressman French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, also saw Gambaryan in prison, describing the conditions as horrible and posting this message on X while he was still on the tarmac in Abuja earlier this summer.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRENCH HILL: We want him home, and we can let Binance, his employer, deal with the Nigerians.
KELEMEN: That's what Yuki Gambaryan wants, too.
GAMBARYAN: My hope is things will get resolved in a diplomatic, respectful way, so nobody has to worry about losing faces and whatnot.
KELEMEN: The Gambaryans have a 5-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. She says she found her son sitting quietly in their living room in Georgia recently.
GAMBARYAN: And I realize he's crying. So I asked him, what's wrong? Why are you crying? And he's just like, I mis - he said I miss daddy. And I don't know what triggered him, but there are days like that. And that is very, very heartbreaking because I don't know what to say.
KELEMEN: The 38-year-old came to Washington last week to try to raise awareness about the case. She says she doesn't know what Binance is doing to resolve it, so she's counting on U.S. diplomats to persuade Nigeria to release her husband on humanitarian grounds. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
