Nigeria has filed a lawsuit totaling 81.5 billion dollars against Binance. The country allegedly suffered economic losses from the operations of the crypto-exchange amounting to 79.5 billion dollars and is also demanding the payment of 2 billion dollars in back taxes.
Binance News: Nigeria and the lawsuit against the $81.5 billion crypto-exchange
Nigeria has filed a lawsuit against the world’s largest crypto-exchange Binance for a total of 81.5 billion dollars.
According to what has been reported, the country would have suffered economic losses from the operations of the crypto-exchange amounting to 79.5 billion dollars and is also demanding the payment of 2 billion dollars in back taxes.
Not only that, the authorities in Nigeria blame Binance for their problems related to their local currency naira.
Binance is not registered in Nigeria and is collaborating with the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to resolve potential historical tax liabilities.
However, the FIRS states that Binance has a “significant economic presence” in Nigeria and is therefore subject to corporate income tax. The agency asks the court to declare that Binance must pay income taxes for 2022 and 2023, in addition to an annual penalty of 10% on unpaid amounts.
In addition, the FIRS also requests that Binance pay an interest rate of 26.75% on unpaid taxes, based on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s lending rate.
Binance and Nigeria’s 2024 crackdown: the Gambaryan case
It has been since March 2024 that Binance has halted all transactions and trading with naira, the currency of Nigeria. This is because it is precisely from that moment that the West African country began to accuse it of tax evasion.
In fact, the government of Nigeria had already filed the first compensation claim against Binance for at least 10 billion dollars.
All this started to happen after Nigeria had already accused and arrested two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, for tax fraud and money laundering, in February 2024.
While the executive Anjarwalla managed to escape custody and flee, Gambaryan was instead incarcerated, without the possibility of bail.
Unfortunately, the Binance executive experienced his imprisonment at Kuje, where he might have contracted malaria and where he would not have received any support for his health condition.
Already in June 2024, then, in the case of Gambaryan, the federals began to move, requesting the support of the USA government. In practice, over 100 agents and former prosecutors wrote a letter of solicitation to the American State Department, to have the detainee released in Nigeria.
The release of Gambaryan took place just this past October 23rd. In a phone call with the President of Nigeria Bola Tibunu, the USA President at that time, Joe Biden, would have appreciated his gesture of releasing Gambaryan from a “humanitarian” point of view.
The important operation against crypto frauds
Another piece of news from the end of 2024 concerning Nigeria is its significant operation against crypto scams, which uncovered and led to the arrest of as many as 792 people.
The investigation was conducted by the EFCC of Nigeria, which managed to carry out one of the largest raids against fraudulent activities of this kind.
This investigation had revealed a sophisticated international system in which the victims, primarily from Europe and America, were deceived with fake investments in cryptocurrencies.
The scammers operated using a combination of manipulative strategies and emotional deceptions. In practice, the scammers selected and lured victims through online relationships, such as romantic offers or friendships built over time.
After gaining the trust of the victims, the scammers proposed investments in alleged opportunities related to crypto, presented as highly profitable and risk-free.