Tigran’s wife, Yuki, who spoke with FORTUNE from her family home in Georgia, US, lamented, “Every day it’s nothing but frustration for our family. Six months is a long time for an innocent man to be detained, and the fear of losing him is all consuming.”
The family of the United States national and executive of cryptocurrency trading firm Binance, Tigran Gambaryan, who is being detained in Nigeria for alleged money laundering and tax evasion charges, has called on the US State Department for intervention for his release.
Tigran’s wife, Yuki, who spoke with FORTUNE from her family home in Georgia, US, lamented, “Every day it’s nothing but frustration for our family. Six months is a long time for an innocent man to be detained, and the fear of losing him is all consuming.”
The ordeal of Tigran, a former US IRS special agent, began when he travelled to Nigeria in February 2024 to act as an emissary for Binance to resolve investigations into poor compliance practices.
Tigran’s wife, who lamented that her husband is now immobile and unable to leave his cell, said that the Nigerian authorities have refused to provide him with a wheelchair.
She and Binance said that Tigran had also been denied regular access to legal counsel, and that the overall situation amounted to human rights violations.
But the US State Department, which was instrumental in the recent freeing of US nationals held hostage in Russia, has yet to formally designate Tigran as wrongfully detained in Nigeria.
The “wrongfully detained” designation is not only a symbolic gesture but also a practical one, since those who receive it become priorities of a special State Department agency known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, FORTUNE reports.
Granting this status to Gambaryan would effectively recognise him as a political hostage, which would oblige the special agency to provide expertise and frequent updates under a 2023 law called the Levinson Act.
Several members of Congress have already demanded this.
However, in response to an inquiry from FORTUNE about whether Tigran will receive the special designation, a State Department spokesperson reportedly provided a carefully worded statement.
In an email sent to FORTUNE, the spokesperson said, “The Department reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of all U.S. nationals overseas for indicators that they are wrongful.
“When making these assessments, the Department looks at the totality of the circumstances for each case individually. We will continue to monitor Tigran Gambaryan’s case closely.”
A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reportedly said that the State Department may be hesitating in designating Gambaryan as a hostage since Nigeria — unlike Russia, North Korea, and other places where Americans are wrongly detained — is a US ally.
A spokesperson for Binance said, “We continue our efforts to resolve this situation,” adding, “The Nigerian government does not need to hold an innocent employee to get us engaged.”
However, as the geopolitical aspects of the case drag on, Tigran’s wife, Yuki said that she is grateful to the State Department for speaking with her but that she is worried and frustrated.
She said she is doing what she can, including launching a “Bring Tigran home” website, but frets that he was recently denied counsel again prior to his next hearing on September 2.
According to her, the hardest part is when it comes to her children, who are 5 and 10 years old respectively.
She said that while she has had semi-regular phone calls with her husband, they have been arranged at times when the children are asleep or at school, leaving them to ask her if they will see their father again.
She said, “I don’t know how to comfort them,” adding, “I am begging the Nigerian authorities to let him go home.”