Cryptocurrency giant, Binance, has claimed the Nigerian government demanded $150 million bribe from them.
This was revealed by New York Times in its report ‘Behind Nigeria’s Arrest of Binance Employee, Claims of a Bribe’ on Tuesday.
NYT quoted Richard Teng’s recent blog post on the allegation.
Teng said an agent fronting for a government official requested the said bribe after a meeting between Nigerian lawmakers in January 2024 before Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla were arrested in February.
Quoting Teng, the report said the purported agent demanded “a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away,”, the figure was roughly $150 million.
“Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed,” Mr Teng wrote in his post. “We declined the payment demand via our counsel, not viewing it as a legitimate settlement offer.”
Meanwhile, in March, the House of Representatives ordered the arrest of Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, over their refusal to honour the invitation in person.
