How a former U.S. investigator wound up on trial in Nigeria for money laundering and tax evasion

WAMU 88.5 | By Lauren Hamilton

Published July 10, 2024 at 7:13 AM CDT

In this photo illustration, the Binance logo is displayed on a screen in San Anselmo, California.

Tigran Gambaryan is an American who works for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange,Binance.

Back in February, he took a two-day business trip to Nigeria to meet with government officials.

But he never made it back home. Instead, he was taken into custody by Nigerian authorities. For months, he’s been held in prison on charges of tax evasion and money laundering. His trial is now underway.

How did a former criminal investigator for the U.S. Treasury end up on trial for the very crimes he uncovers? What are U.S. officials doing to get one of their citizens home from international detention? And what could this trial mean for the future of cryptocurrency regulation globally?

Dina Temple-Raston,host of the “Click Here” podcast and a senior correspondent at Recorded Future News, has been reporting on this from the start.