One of two executives from the ubiquitously known crypto exchange, Binance, was detained in Nigeria and appeared in an Abuja court on April 4th to face tax evasion and money laundering charges.

Binance and two of its executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is a regional manager for Binance Africa, have been charged with four counts of tax evasion and with laundering over $35 Mn.

Nadeem Anjarwalla, who fled to Kenya after an escape from custody in Nigeria, has been located and Kenyan authorities are working to secure his extradition with the help of INTERPOL.

Nigeria’s government has demanded $10 Bn from Binance after central bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso announced a 200 basis point increase in interest rates to 24.75% from 22.75%, to thwart excessive inflation. He alleges that Binance had enabled $26 Bn of untraceable funds to leave the country as it faces a foreign exchange crisis and is looking for ways to restrict capital outflows, the BBC reported.

Nigerian authorities claim Binance, which isn’t registered to operate in the country, caused widespread economic disruption and contributed to the naira’s 60% weakening over the last year. A drop of value from $0.0022 to $0.00087 in U.S. dollars. Another contributing factor to such a dip in value could have been caused by monetary shock. A month after taking office in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu had fired his central bank governor and scrapped the official currency peg of 461 naira to the dollar.

Binance Holdings Limited (Binance), the entity that operates the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.com, pleaded guilty in November and agreed to pay $4.3 Bn to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into violations related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), as well as failing to register as a money transmitting business.

A lawsuit against Binance, filed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center in the U.S. Middle District Court of Alabama, states the crypto exchange has allowed Hamas and Hezbollah to raise funds without any consequences. Specifically by facilitating nearly $900 Mn in transactions between U.S. and Iranian customers from January 2018 to May 2022. A violation of U.S. sanctions.

The sentencing of former Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who is currently on a $175 Bn bond for money laundering charges, will be April 30 in Seattle. CZ’s guilty plea was part of a larger deal with the U.S. government that also saw him stepping down as CEO, and his company paying the aforementioned $4.3 Bn settlement. Federal sentencing guidelines suggest a maximum sentence of 18 months.