Tigran Gambaryan

Heads up, this episode has a few curse words in it.

Heads up, this episode has a few curse words in it.

Yeah, but the key thing that turned the tide for Tigran was when Nigerian prosecutors actually started to lay out their case against him in court filings.

Yeah, but the key thing that turned the tide for Tigran was when Nigerian prosecutors actually started to lay out their case against him in court filings.

Tigran was expecting the Nigerian prosecutors to at least have gone through the motions of building a case against him. But instead, what they had tying Tigran to these alleged crimes was a single sheet of paper, a photocopy of his business card. And that, that was the moment, it seems, that Tigran's case really changed for the U.S. government.

Tigran was expecting the Nigerian prosecutors to at least have gone through the motions of building a case against him. But instead, what they had tying Tigran to these alleged crimes was a single sheet of paper, a photocopy of his business card. And that, that was the moment, it seems, that Tigran's case really changed for the U.S. government.

Tigran's story is about more than one man in a notorious Nigerian prison. It's about how people in places without stable economies have found refuge in cryptocurrency, how crypto can undermine state power, and how that state power fights back.

Tigran's story is about more than one man in a notorious Nigerian prison. It's about how people in places without stable economies have found refuge in cryptocurrency, how crypto can undermine state power, and how that state power fights back.

The U.S. strategy to get Tigran out was, it seems, pretty simple. A full-court diplomatic press. For months, U.S. officials were told to bring up Tigran at the beginning of every meeting they had with Nigerian officials, with the foreign minister, the finance minister, the national security advisor, but also the minister of culture, the minister of sports.

The U.S. strategy to get Tigran out was, it seems, pretty simple. A full-court diplomatic press. For months, U.S. officials were told to bring up Tigran at the beginning of every meeting they had with Nigerian officials, with the foreign minister, the finance minister, the national security advisor, but also the minister of culture, the minister of sports.

And this strategy went all the way to the top, all the way to then-President Joe Biden.

And this strategy went all the way to the top, all the way to then-President Joe Biden.

Tigran's health, meanwhile, continued to deteriorate. And eventually, the pressure, maybe the embarrassment, became too much. The Nigerian government announced they were going to release Tigran on humanitarian grounds. They said they were just releasing him so that he could get medical care. Binance set a private plane to pick up Tigran. They flew him to Rome.

Tigran's health, meanwhile, continued to deteriorate. And eventually, the pressure, maybe the embarrassment, became too much. The Nigerian government announced they were going to release Tigran on humanitarian grounds. They said they were just releasing him so that he could get medical care. Binance set a private plane to pick up Tigran. They flew him to Rome.

And then he took a commercial flight back to the U.S., All told, he spent about eight months in detention. He's still recovering from the medical issues related to getting malaria. And he still works at Binance. By the way, we did reach out to Binance for this story, and they did not respond to our questions about Tigran.

And then he took a commercial flight back to the U.S., All told, he spent about eight months in detention. He's still recovering from the medical issues related to getting malaria. And he still works at Binance. By the way, we did reach out to Binance for this story, and they did not respond to our questions about Tigran.

By the way, Tigran and Nadim haven't spoken since Nadim escaped. We did reach out to Nadim. He didn't get back to us. But as for what happened to him, Tigran suspects that he hopped the guesthouse wall, got an Uber to the airport, and caught the first flight out. He had a second passport.

By the way, Tigran and Nadim haven't spoken since Nadim escaped. We did reach out to Nadim. He didn't get back to us. But as for what happened to him, Tigran suspects that he hopped the guesthouse wall, got an Uber to the airport, and caught the first flight out. He had a second passport.

When I said that Dina is a legend, I meant it. We worked in the same office for a few years, and I learned so much from her by osmosis, by watching how she reports. And I'll admit it now to you, Dina, by eavesdropping on your phone conversation. If you want to hear more stories like this one, you can check out Dina's show. It's called Click Here. It comes from Recorded Future News.

When I said that Dina is a legend, I meant it. We worked in the same office for a few years, and I learned so much from her by osmosis, by watching how she reports. And I'll admit it now to you, Dina, by eavesdropping on your phone conversation. If you want to hear more stories like this one, you can check out Dina's show. It's called Click Here. It comes from Recorded Future News.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peasley and Sean Powers. It was edited by Jess Jang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Sina Lafredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Special thanks to the great Karen Duffin.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peasley and Sean Powers. It was edited by Jess Jang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Sina Lafredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Special thanks to the great Karen Duffin.

And I'm Nick Fountain. This is NPR. Thank you for listening.

And I'm Nick Fountain. This is NPR. Thank you for listening.

Some backstory. Tigran made his name working for the IRS. He was a special agent there, a financial investigator. And he focused on investigating cryptocurrency and cyber cases.

Some backstory. Tigran made his name working for the IRS. He was a special agent there, a financial investigator. And he focused on investigating cryptocurrency and cyber cases.

But Tigran suspected that these transactions were not as anonymous as people thought. So night after night, with his infant daughter on his lap, he stared at long strings of letters and numbers, trying to figure out a way to follow transactions from one place to another. And through just determination, he was able to do it. He was able to trace transactions.

But Tigran suspected that these transactions were not as anonymous as people thought. So night after night, with his infant daughter on his lap, he stared at long strings of letters and numbers, trying to figure out a way to follow transactions from one place to another. And through just determination, he was able to do it. He was able to trace transactions.

And over the next decade, he became kind of this evangelist for crypto. He believed that if done correctly, crypto could solve a lot of the problems in the financial system and maybe be more transparent than traditional banks. And so in 2021, Tigran decided to leave government and take his talents to the largest cryptocurrency platform in the world, a company called Binance.

And over the next decade, he became kind of this evangelist for crypto. He believed that if done correctly, crypto could solve a lot of the problems in the financial system and maybe be more transparent than traditional banks. And so in 2021, Tigran decided to leave government and take his talents to the largest cryptocurrency platform in the world, a company called Binance.

Binance is what's called an exchange, basically a place to buy or sell crypto. And it had this kind of sketchy reputation as a place for money launderers and criminals.

Binance is what's called an exchange, basically a place to buy or sell crypto. And it had this kind of sketchy reputation as a place for money launderers and criminals.

So officially, Tikran was hired to help with law enforcement and compliance. But unofficially, he was sort of an ambassador for Binance and for crypto itself. He was there to send the message. Crypto's Wild West days were over. That shady stuff Binance was doing was in the past. Today's Binance is law-abiding, and we're here to help.

So officially, Tikran was hired to help with law enforcement and compliance. But unofficially, he was sort of an ambassador for Binance and for crypto itself. He was there to send the message. Crypto's Wild West days were over. That shady stuff Binance was doing was in the past. Today's Binance is law-abiding, and we're here to help.

Now, Nigeria as a country has a complicated relationship with crypto. By the time Tigran had arrived last year, their currency, the Naira, had been through years of turmoil. They had unpegged the Naira from the U.S. dollar. Inflation had been high, like 30% annually. And so people had been buying up crypto as a kind of store of value.

Now, Nigeria as a country has a complicated relationship with crypto. By the time Tigran had arrived last year, their currency, the Naira, had been through years of turmoil. They had unpegged the Naira from the U.S. dollar. Inflation had been high, like 30% annually. And so people had been buying up crypto as a kind of store of value.

Instead of putting savings in a bank, they would buy Bitcoin or Ethereum. In 2024, Nigeria had the second largest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world.

Instead of putting savings in a bank, they would buy Bitcoin or Ethereum. In 2024, Nigeria had the second largest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world.

Which brings us back to Tigran. Tigran's trip to Nigeria was going to be quick. Just a few days of back-to-back meetings. He didn't even check a bag.

Which brings us back to Tigran. Tigran's trip to Nigeria was going to be quick. Just a few days of back-to-back meetings. He didn't even check a bag.

If this is ringing a bell, it first made the rounds last spring.

If this is ringing a bell, it first made the rounds last spring.

And the two of them were waiting to meet with the head of the NSA to talk through how Binance and Nigeria could work better together. But that meeting never happened. Instead, eventually, a bunch of Nigerian officials filed into the room. None of them were really making eye contact with Tigran or Nadim. And when the meeting did start, Tigran realized it was not what they signed up for.

And the two of them were waiting to meet with the head of the NSA to talk through how Binance and Nigeria could work better together. But that meeting never happened. Instead, eventually, a bunch of Nigerian officials filed into the room. None of them were really making eye contact with Tigran or Nadim. And when the meeting did start, Tigran realized it was not what they signed up for.

According to Tigran, they basically said, we are not going to let you leave until we are satisfied that Binance is on the up and up. Among other things, they said they wanted Binance to pay those taxes and also some fines. And they said they wanted more control over the platform, including information on Binance's users.

According to Tigran, they basically said, we are not going to let you leave until we are satisfied that Binance is on the up and up. Among other things, they said they wanted Binance to pay those taxes and also some fines. And they said they wanted more control over the platform, including information on Binance's users.

And where might the Nigerian government have gotten the idea of detaining someone from Binance and slapping them with enormous fines?

And where might the Nigerian government have gotten the idea of detaining someone from Binance and slapping them with enormous fines?

Then the video just ends. It's haunting. I first heard about this guy and this video from legendary reporter Dina Temple Raston. Hey, Dina.

Then the video just ends. It's haunting. I first heard about this guy and this video from legendary reporter Dina Temple Raston. Hey, Dina.

The announcement rocked the crypto world. And, yeah, it might have planted an idea in the minds of Nigerian officials.

The announcement rocked the crypto world. And, yeah, it might have planted an idea in the minds of Nigerian officials.

Authorities took them to a safe house in the capital. Apparently, the conditions there weren't all that bad. Tigran had access to a phone. He could talk to a lawyer. Nadim convinced the guards to buy satellite TV so they could watch movies. And the food, Tigran says, it was good.

Authorities took them to a safe house in the capital. Apparently, the conditions there weren't all that bad. Tigran had access to a phone. He could talk to a lawyer. Nadim convinced the guards to buy satellite TV so they could watch movies. And the food, Tigran says, it was good.

Weeks passed like this. Not much action, a lot of smoothies. Tigran took to push-ups and pull-ups to stay fit and take the edge off his anxiety. But Nadeem was getting more and more freaked out, and Tigran tried to comfort him.

Weeks passed like this. Not much action, a lot of smoothies. Tigran took to push-ups and pull-ups to stay fit and take the edge off his anxiety. But Nadeem was getting more and more freaked out, and Tigran tried to comfort him.

Nadeem had escaped. And Tigran says at this moment he felt his heart sink. For weeks he and Nadeem had been in this together. He thought surely Nadeem had at least left an explanation. But when Tigran looked around for a note, he couldn't find one.

Nadeem had escaped. And Tigran says at this moment he felt his heart sink. For weeks he and Nadeem had been in this together. He thought surely Nadeem had at least left an explanation. But when Tigran looked around for a note, he couldn't find one.

Dina, you've been following this story, the story of Tigran Gambarian, since day one.

Dina, you've been following this story, the story of Tigran Gambarian, since day one.

He knew he had, what, minutes before the guards figured out that Nadeem had escaped. And he knew that once that happened, all hell would break loose. At the very least, he'd probably lose access to his phone and the world.

He knew he had, what, minutes before the guards figured out that Nadeem had escaped. And he knew that once that happened, all hell would break loose. At the very least, he'd probably lose access to his phone and the world.

Hello, my name is Sigrun Gambarian. I'm the head of financial crime compliance. Yeah, this was that haunting video that made the rounds.

Hello, my name is Sigrun Gambarian. I'm the head of financial crime compliance. Yeah, this was that haunting video that made the rounds.

Please help me.

Please help me.

And once he was arraigned, he was not sent back to the guest house with the satellite TV and the chef. This time, his treatment was much worse.

And once he was arraigned, he was not sent back to the guest house with the satellite TV and the chef. This time, his treatment was much worse.

The prison he ended up in is infamous. It's called Kuja. It's where Nigeria puts ISIS militants. It's actually one of the largest prisons in Nigeria.

The prison he ended up in is infamous. It's called Kuja. It's where Nigeria puts ISIS militants. It's actually one of the largest prisons in Nigeria.

Yeah. It was at this moment that Tigran starts to realize that while he was locked away, the Nigerian government had been painting this picture of him as not only the cause of all of Nigeria's money problems, the inflation, the speculation, but also as a billionaire, an evil one, and a crook. How was Tigran going to get out of here? That is after the break.

Yeah. It was at this moment that Tigran starts to realize that while he was locked away, the Nigerian government had been painting this picture of him as not only the cause of all of Nigeria's money problems, the inflation, the speculation, but also as a billionaire, an evil one, and a crook. How was Tigran going to get out of here? That is after the break.

Eventually, Tigran did get a phone, and he was able to talk with his family. He says he spent hours on video calls with his 10-year-old daughter. They'd talk while she played video games late into the night. And on those calls, he says he tried to pretend things were normal, that he was just on a long business trip. But later, he found out that she'd known all along. She'd Googled him.

Eventually, Tigran did get a phone, and he was able to talk with his family. He says he spent hours on video calls with his 10-year-old daughter. They'd talk while she played video games late into the night. And on those calls, he says he tried to pretend things were normal, that he was just on a long business trip. But later, he found out that she'd known all along. She'd Googled him.

There is this video that I've not been able to stop thinking about since I first saw it. It's a short video, just 39 seconds long, of a bearded man with a tight haircut, a white t-shirt, and a gold chain. And he is filming himself selfie style, but he seems to be holding the phone at this weird angle. As if he's trying to hide it from someone.

There is this video that I've not been able to stop thinking about since I first saw it. It's a short video, just 39 seconds long, of a bearded man with a tight haircut, a white t-shirt, and a gold chain. And he is filming himself selfie style, but he seems to be holding the phone at this weird angle. As if he's trying to hide it from someone.

Yeah, and that saga is our episode today. Hello and welcome to Play the Money. I'm Nick Fountain.

Yeah, and that saga is our episode today. Hello and welcome to Play the Money. I'm Nick Fountain.

In May, about three months into his detention, Tigran got malaria. Pretty common in Nigeria. It's treatable. Think like a bad flu, but worse. But if it is not treated, it can be debilitating. Even deadly. And Tigran was not getting good care. His malaria led to pneumonia. Eventually, he became bedridden. And that aggravated some of his back problems. He ended up unable to walk.

In May, about three months into his detention, Tigran got malaria. Pretty common in Nigeria. It's treatable. Think like a bad flu, but worse. But if it is not treated, it can be debilitating. Even deadly. And Tigran was not getting good care. His malaria led to pneumonia. Eventually, he became bedridden. And that aggravated some of his back problems. He ended up unable to walk.

He needed a wheelchair to get around.

He needed a wheelchair to get around.

Yeah, there's this incredible video from last September. Tigran is in this echoey courthouse hallway with a single crutch. He's struggling to walk, and he's getting more and more frustrated. Because there is a guard in brown fatigues trying to get him into a courtroom. But when Tigran keeps reaching for the guard's hands, the guy will not help. Every few steps, Tigran has to rest against the wall.

Yeah, there's this incredible video from last September. Tigran is in this echoey courthouse hallway with a single crutch. He's struggling to walk, and he's getting more and more frustrated. Because there is a guard in brown fatigues trying to get him into a courtroom. But when Tigran keeps reaching for the guard's hands, the guy will not help. Every few steps, Tigran has to rest against the wall.

Heads up, this episode has a few curse words in it.

Yeah, but the key thing that turned the tide for Tigran was when Nigerian prosecutors actually started to lay out their case against him in court filings.

Tigran was expecting the Nigerian prosecutors to at least have gone through the motions of building a case against him. But instead, what they had tying Tigran to these alleged crimes was a single sheet of paper, a photocopy of his business card. And that, that was the moment, it seems, that Tigran's case really changed for the U.S. government.

Tigran's story is about more than one man in a notorious Nigerian prison. It's about how people in places without stable economies have found refuge in cryptocurrency, how crypto can undermine state power, and how that state power fights back.

The U.S. strategy to get Tigran out was, it seems, pretty simple. A full-court diplomatic press. For months, U.S. officials were told to bring up Tigran at the beginning of every meeting they had with Nigerian officials, with the foreign minister, the finance minister, the national security advisor, but also the minister of culture, the minister of sports.

And this strategy went all the way to the top, all the way to then-President Joe Biden.

Tigran's health, meanwhile, continued to deteriorate. And eventually, the pressure, maybe the embarrassment, became too much. The Nigerian government announced they were going to release Tigran on humanitarian grounds. They said they were just releasing him so that he could get medical care. Binance set a private plane to pick up Tigran. They flew him to Rome.

And then he took a commercial flight back to the U.S., All told, he spent about eight months in detention. He's still recovering from the medical issues related to getting malaria. And he still works at Binance. By the way, we did reach out to Binance for this story, and they did not respond to our questions about Tigran.

By the way, Tigran and Nadim haven't spoken since Nadim escaped. We did reach out to Nadim. He didn't get back to us. But as for what happened to him, Tigran suspects that he hopped the guesthouse wall, got an Uber to the airport, and caught the first flight out. He had a second passport.

When I said that Dina is a legend, I meant it. We worked in the same office for a few years, and I learned so much from her by osmosis, by watching how she reports. And I'll admit it now to you, Dina, by eavesdropping on your phone conversation. If you want to hear more stories like this one, you can check out Dina's show. It's called Click Here. It comes from Recorded Future News.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peasley and Sean Powers. It was edited by Jess Jang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Sina Lafredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Special thanks to the great Karen Duffin.

And I'm Nick Fountain. This is NPR. Thank you for listening.

Some backstory. Tigran made his name working for the IRS. He was a special agent there, a financial investigator. And he focused on investigating cryptocurrency and cyber cases.

But Tigran suspected that these transactions were not as anonymous as people thought. So night after night, with his infant daughter on his lap, he stared at long strings of letters and numbers, trying to figure out a way to follow transactions from one place to another. And through just determination, he was able to do it. He was able to trace transactions.

And over the next decade, he became kind of this evangelist for crypto. He believed that if done correctly, crypto could solve a lot of the problems in the financial system and maybe be more transparent than traditional banks. And so in 2021, Tigran decided to leave government and take his talents to the largest cryptocurrency platform in the world, a company called Binance.

Binance is what's called an exchange, basically a place to buy or sell crypto. And it had this kind of sketchy reputation as a place for money launderers and criminals.

So officially, Tikran was hired to help with law enforcement and compliance. But unofficially, he was sort of an ambassador for Binance and for crypto itself. He was there to send the message. Crypto's Wild West days were over. That shady stuff Binance was doing was in the past. Today's Binance is law-abiding, and we're here to help.

Now, Nigeria as a country has a complicated relationship with crypto. By the time Tigran had arrived last year, their currency, the Naira, had been through years of turmoil. They had unpegged the Naira from the U.S. dollar. Inflation had been high, like 30% annually. And so people had been buying up crypto as a kind of store of value.

Instead of putting savings in a bank, they would buy Bitcoin or Ethereum. In 2024, Nigeria had the second largest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world.

Which brings us back to Tigran. Tigran's trip to Nigeria was going to be quick. Just a few days of back-to-back meetings. He didn't even check a bag.

If this is ringing a bell, it first made the rounds last spring.

And the two of them were waiting to meet with the head of the NSA to talk through how Binance and Nigeria could work better together. But that meeting never happened. Instead, eventually, a bunch of Nigerian officials filed into the room. None of them were really making eye contact with Tigran or Nadim. And when the meeting did start, Tigran realized it was not what they signed up for.

According to Tigran, they basically said, we are not going to let you leave until we are satisfied that Binance is on the up and up. Among other things, they said they wanted Binance to pay those taxes and also some fines. And they said they wanted more control over the platform, including information on Binance's users.

And where might the Nigerian government have gotten the idea of detaining someone from Binance and slapping them with enormous fines?

Then the video just ends. It's haunting. I first heard about this guy and this video from legendary reporter Dina Temple Raston. Hey, Dina.

The announcement rocked the crypto world. And, yeah, it might have planted an idea in the minds of Nigerian officials.

Authorities took them to a safe house in the capital. Apparently, the conditions there weren't all that bad. Tigran had access to a phone. He could talk to a lawyer. Nadim convinced the guards to buy satellite TV so they could watch movies. And the food, Tigran says, it was good.

Weeks passed like this. Not much action, a lot of smoothies. Tigran took to push-ups and pull-ups to stay fit and take the edge off his anxiety. But Nadeem was getting more and more freaked out, and Tigran tried to comfort him.

Nadeem had escaped. And Tigran says at this moment he felt his heart sink. For weeks he and Nadeem had been in this together. He thought surely Nadeem had at least left an explanation. But when Tigran looked around for a note, he couldn't find one.

Dina, you've been following this story, the story of Tigran Gambarian, since day one.

He knew he had, what, minutes before the guards figured out that Nadeem had escaped. And he knew that once that happened, all hell would break loose. At the very least, he'd probably lose access to his phone and the world.

Hello, my name is Sigrun Gambarian. I'm the head of financial crime compliance. Yeah, this was that haunting video that made the rounds.

Please help me.

And once he was arraigned, he was not sent back to the guest house with the satellite TV and the chef. This time, his treatment was much worse.

The prison he ended up in is infamous. It's called Kuja. It's where Nigeria puts ISIS militants. It's actually one of the largest prisons in Nigeria.

Yeah. It was at this moment that Tigran starts to realize that while he was locked away, the Nigerian government had been painting this picture of him as not only the cause of all of Nigeria's money problems, the inflation, the speculation, but also as a billionaire, an evil one, and a crook. How was Tigran going to get out of here? That is after the break.

Eventually, Tigran did get a phone, and he was able to talk with his family. He says he spent hours on video calls with his 10-year-old daughter. They'd talk while she played video games late into the night. And on those calls, he says he tried to pretend things were normal, that he was just on a long business trip. But later, he found out that she'd known all along. She'd Googled him.

There is this video that I've not been able to stop thinking about since I first saw it. It's a short video, just 39 seconds long, of a bearded man with a tight haircut, a white t-shirt, and a gold chain. And he is filming himself selfie style, but he seems to be holding the phone at this weird angle. As if he's trying to hide it from someone.

Yeah, and that saga is our episode today. Hello and welcome to Play the Money. I'm Nick Fountain.

In May, about three months into his detention, Tigran got malaria. Pretty common in Nigeria. It's treatable. Think like a bad flu, but worse. But if it is not treated, it can be debilitating. Even deadly. And Tigran was not getting good care. His malaria led to pneumonia. Eventually, he became bedridden. And that aggravated some of his back problems. He ended up unable to walk.

He needed a wheelchair to get around.

Yeah, there's this incredible video from last September. Tigran is in this echoey courthouse hallway with a single crutch. He's struggling to walk, and he's getting more and more frustrated. Because there is a guard in brown fatigues trying to get him into a courtroom. But when Tigran keeps reaching for the guard's hands, the guy will not help. Every few steps, Tigran has to rest against the wall.