Author: Vince Quill, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Baishui, Golden Finance

Nigeria has filed a lawsuit against Binance, the world's largest centralized exchange, for a $81.5 billion requesting it to pay a further 2 billion The U.S. dollar taxes and $79 billion in economic losses were attributed to Binance's alleged depression of local fiat currencies in Nigeria.

The Federal Taxation Service of Nigeria (FIRS) said Binance has a “significant economic presence” in Nigeria and has tax arrears for 2022 and 2023, according to Reuters.

FIRS also reportedly asked the company to pay 26.75% interest on the tax owed and continues to claim that the exchange played a major role in reducing the value of the Nigerian Naira in the forex market.

This West Africa has previously charged and detained two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, alleging that they were alleged of tax fraud and money laundering. FIRS later dropped tax charges against two executives.

The Naira M2 money supply has increased significantly since 2019. Source: Trading Economics

In February 2024, Nigeria accidentally detained Gambaryan and Anjarwalla during a regular meeting with regulators.

Binance stopped all Naira trading activities on its platform in March 2024 after the two executives were detained and Nigerian officials complained that traders on the platform had disrupted the stability of Naira .

There are reports that Gambaryan has a chronic disease but reportedly refused to provide adequate medical services, and Gambaryan's detention has attracted media attention.

In July 2024, U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick introduced a resolution to classify the detention of U.S. citizen Gambaryan as a hostage and demanded the immediate release of the executive.

Gambaryan sat in court, apparently shocked by the trial process and the harsh prison conditions. Source: Associated Press

U.S. diplomats have stepped up pressure on Nigeria to release Binance executives in September 2024, including U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills ) appeals to release Gambaryan.

After the pressure activities, the country's economic and financial crime committeeThe Council dropped the money laundering charges against Binance executives in October 2024.

Gambaryan was released and left Nigeria on October 23, 2024, after he had been in prison for nearly seven months and had a complicated legal battle.