The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes and lawmaker representing Isiala Ngwa North South/Isiala Ngwa North Federal Constituency, Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe, has denied allegations that bribes were demanded from Binance and its officers by the Committee describing them as malicious and defamatory.
Onwusibe also denied any coordination with congregational investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The lawmaker in a statement titled: “Limited Reactions to False and Malicious Defamatory Publications Against Me By Tigran Gambaryan of Finance”, REACTION TO FALSE, denied being the coordinator between our Congressional investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), particularly, the NSA, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.
“No one in the ONSA, including Mr. Ribadu directed us to demand bribes from Binance and its officers on their behalf or ours, and no such bribes were ever demanded.
“Similarly, no coordination existed between me, my Committee and the “Head” of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as alleged by Mr. Tigran Gambaryan in his publication today on X as well as the ones he planted in NPR and WIRED publications and no bribes were demanded by my Committee on their behalf”.
Mr. Tigran Gambaryan is Head, Financial Crime Compliance of BINANCE, a Block Chain Digital Asset Exchange,on his X (formerly twitter) and made the allegations on Friday the 14th February, 2025.
According to Hon. Onwusibe, “I have been inundated by thousands of phone calls, WhatsApp and SMS messages as well as physical visits by colleagues and others at the National Assembly”.
“My attention was similarly drawn to a publication in the NPR media website, titled “the ‘CRYPTO WIZARD’ VS. NIGERIA” published on February 11, 2025, written by Dina Temple-Raston, Nick Fountain, Jess Jiang, Emma Peaslee and Sean Powers, as well as another publication in the WIRED media website titled “The Untold Story OF Of A Crypto Crime Fighter’s Descent Into Nigeria Prison” published on February 10, 2025, written by Andy Greenberg, all of which contained very damaging, false, malicious and defamatory accusations against me.
“Initially, I took the decision not to respond because the issues raised in the said publications are Sun Justice, being subject of a Court action initiated by me against Binance and their Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Richard Teng, which is pending before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“For this reason, I will be giving only a limited response which will not go into the merits or details of the issues which are already being adjudicated by a Court of competent jurisdiction”.
He gave a BRIEF facts of the matter as follows:
1. In December 2023, my committee received a Petition from a CSO/NGO, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative alleging multiple financial and economic crimes and irregularities perpetrated by Binance against the Nigerian economy and State.
2. Upon receipt of the said Petition, we wrote to Mr. Richard Teng who is the Managing Director/CEO of Binance, inviting him to appear before the Investigative/Public Hearing set up by the Committee to investigate the allegations bordering on breach and non-compliance by Binance with extant Laws and Regulations related to their operations in Nigeria.
3. Binance and Mr. Teng through their representatives contacted the Committee, in order to agree on a th convenient date for them to appear and testify at the Investigative/Public Hearing and the 10 day of January 2024 was agreed as a convenient date for a Public Hearing on the matter .
4. Before the agreed date of the 10 day of January 2024 when the Public Hearing was scheduled to hold, Binance reached out to the Committee to request for a pre-Hearing meeting which will afford them an opportunity to gain deeper insight into details of the allegations against them in order to assist them in preparing for the Investigative/Public Hearing. The Committee conceded the request th by Binance and scheduled the pre-hearing meeting for the 8 day of January 2024 at the National Assembly Complex.
5. On the 8 day of January 2024, I was unavoidably absent from Abuja, Federal Capital Territory on assignment in another State with another Committee of the House of Representatives of which I am member. I therefore delegated three members of the Committee and a Clerk, to meet with a six member team representing Binance at the pre-Hearing meeting which included Counsel to Binance. At the Pre-Hearing meeting which held in the premises of the National Assembly Complex, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, detailed facts on the allegations against Binance as contained in the aforesaid Petition, was made available to them to assist them in preparing for the Public th Hearing scheduled for the 10 day of January 2024.
The meeting was open, transparent and ended on a cordial note. No solicitation or demands of any type was made by representatives of the Committee to the Binance and/or their representatives at the meeting.
“6. On the 10 day of January 2024, the MD/CEO of Binance, Mr. Richard Teng who was the officer specifically invited to appear before the Committee failed to appear for the scheduled Public Hearing having earlier forwarded a request to the Committee through his representatives for extension of time to enable him prepare adequately. The Committee obliged the request and rescheduled the Public Hearing. On the rescheduled date, neither the said MD/CEO or any Executive of Binance appeared. They instead sent a Counsel to represent them. The Committee informed Counsel to Binance that under the extant procedures set out in the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, the role of Counsel of witnesses summoned to testify or give evidence in Investigative/Public Hearings is limited solely for the purpose of guiding the witness (es) concerning their Constitutional rights. Counsel was informed that he could not be a witness in the Investigative/Public Hearing; that the witness specifically invited by the Committee to appear before it to give evidence was Mr. Richard Teng, MD/CEO of Binance as clearly set out in the th Committee’s letter of the 8 December 2023 addressed and sent to Mr. Richard Teng. The th Committee again rescheduled the Public Hearing for the 4 day of March 2024 and directed that Mr. Richard Teng or in lieu of him, another Director of Binance should appear to testify before the Investigative/Public Hearing on that date.
7. On the 4 day of March 2024, neither Mr. Richard Teng, any Director of Binanceor other senior executive officer of Binance appeared before the Committee. Instead, Binance again sent their Counsel to represent them at the Investigative/public Hearing. This was rejected by the Committee for the reasons already averred herein.
8. On the 7 day of May 2024, Mr. Richard Teng published in a Blog Post on the Website, Binance.Com, an article authored by him titled “TIGRAN GAMBARYAN IS INNOCENT AND MUST BE RELEASED” which contained false, untrue, malicious and defamatory allegations against me. On the same date, 7 May 2024, Mr. Richard Teng uploaded the article to his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @_Richard Teng”.
“9. I thereafter instructed my Counsel, Mr. Nnamdi U. Nwokocha Ahaaiwe, Esq. of NUNALEXIS Solicitors, L.P. to take remedial action on my behalf.
10. On the 14 day of June 2024, my said Counsel, wrote to Mr. Richard Teng and Binance demanding an apology, retraction and compensatory damages for the said defamatory publications made against me.
11. On the 24 day of June 2024, Binance and Mr. Richard Teng responded to my aforesaid Counsel’s letter through Ms. Eleanor Hughes, General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer, CLO., of Binance, essentially declining to offer an apology, retraction and compensatory damages as demanded by me.
12. On the 18 day of September 2024, my Counsel, Mr. Nnamdi U. Nwokocha Ahaaiwe, Esq., at my instructions, filed a Writ of Summons and other accompanying processes at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in Suit No: FCT/ABJ/HC/CV/4069/2024: Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe V. Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”)&Mr. Richard Teng in which I claim apology and retraction of the defamatory publications as well as injunctive reliefs and damages totaling three Billion dollars ($3,000,000,000.00), etc.
13. The case came up before the Court on the 22 day of January 2025. The Defendants (Binance and Mr. Teng) were duly represented by Mr. Mark Mordi, SAN of the Law Firm, ALUKO & th OYEBODE. The case is further adjourned to Wednesday 19 day of February 2025 for continuation of hearing”.
He denied all the allegations, including that the Department of State Services (DSS) was in anyway involved in their investigations. .
