Nigeria’s federal government has denied allegations made by Binance CEO Richard Teng, claiming that officials demanded a significant payment to settle ongoing disputes. In an official statement on May 8, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Rabiu Ibrahim, refuted the bribery accusations as an attempt to undermine criminal prosecution through a media smear campaign.

The government’s statement explicitly addressed the claim made by Binance CEO Richard Teng, who alleged that unidentified Nigerian officials demanded $150 million in cryptocurrency payments to resolve the ongoing criminal investigation against the company. The Nigerian government dismissed these claims as baseless and described them as a diversionary tactic by Binance to obscure the serious criminal charges it is facing in Nigeria.

The pushback from the Nigerian government comes in response to Teng’s blog post detailing the company’s ongoing legal issues in the country. The situation has escalated to a national investigation into alleged money laundering, terrorism financing, and foreign exchange manipulation through illegal trading. Two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwall, were arrested and faced criminal charges related to these violations.

Following the legal proceedings, Binance was directed to remove the naira from its P2P facilities as part of a broader crackdown on crypto trading in Nigeria. Additionally, an Abuja High Court mandated the exchange to provide detailed information on all local crypto users on its platform.

As the situation unfolds, the trial of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan has been postponed to May 17, with ongoing developments expected in the coming weeks.

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