The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes and the lawmaker representing Isiala Ngwa North/Isiala Ngwa South Federal Constituency of Abia State, Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe, has denied allegations that the committee demanded bribes from the cryptocurrency firm Binance and its officers, describing the allegations as malicious and defamatory.

Onwusibe also denied any coordination between the committee’s investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.

Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, was arrested and detained in Nigeria for several months over alleged corruption. He had accused three members of the House of Representatives of demanding a $150 million bribe to prevent security agencies from acting against him.

On Friday, Gambaryan took to his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle and named Philip Agbese, Ginger Onwusibe, and Peter Akpanke—all members of the House—as the lawmakers who allegedly demanded the sum from him.

Reacting to the allegation in a statement titled “Limited Reaction to False, Malicious and Defamatory Publications Against Me by Tigran Gambaryan of Binance”, Onwusibe insisted that no bribes were demanded from Binance by the committee, either on behalf of its members or any other individuals.

“I categorically deny any coordination 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—neither on their behalf nor on 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) or the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as alleged by Mr. Tigran Gambaryan in his publication today on X, as well as in articles he planted in NPR and WIRED. No bribes were demanded by my committee on their behalf.

“As already stated, our committee never coordinated with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), over whom we have oversight powers,” he stated.

Beyond Gambaryan’s post on X, Onwusibe added that his attention was also drawn to an article published on the NPR website titled “The ‘Crypto Wizard’ vs. Nigeria”, written by Dina Temple-Raston, Nick Fountain, Jess Jiang, Emma Peaslee, and Sean Powers on 11 February 2025, as well as another article published on WIRED titled “The Untold Story of a Crypto Crime Fighter’s Descent into a Nigerian Prison”, written by Andy Greenberg on 10 February 2025. He described both articles as containing “very damaging, false, malicious, and defamatory accusations” against him.

The lawmaker stated that he was offering only a limited response because “the issues raised in the said publications are sub judice, as they are the subject of a court action I have initiated against Binance and its Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Richard Teng, currently pending before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

He explained that in December 2023, his committee had received a petition from a civil society organisation and non-governmental organisation, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, alleging multiple financial and economic crimes and irregularities perpetrated by Binance against the Nigerian economy and state.

“Upon receiving the petition, we wrote to Mr Richard Teng, the Managing Director/CEO of Binance, inviting him to appear before an investigative/public hearing set up by the committee to examine allegations of breaches and non-compliance by Binance with extant laws and regulations governing their operations in Nigeria.

“Binance and Mr. Teng, through their representatives, contacted the committee to agree on a convenient date for them to appear and testify at the investigative/public hearing. The date of 10 January 2024 was agreed upon for the hearing.

“Before the scheduled hearing, Binance reached out to the committee requesting a pre-hearing meeting to gain deeper insight into the allegations against them, to assist them in preparing for the investigative/public hearing.

“The committee granted Binance’s request and scheduled the pre-hearing meeting for 8 January 2024 at the National Assembly Complex,” the statement read in part.

Onwusibe emphasised that the meeting was requested by Binance, not by him or the committee. He added that there would have been no meeting on 8 January 2024, as he was “unavoidably absent from Abuja” due to commitments with another House committee of which he is a member.

The lawmaker further stated that on 7 May 2024, Richard Teng published an article on Binance’s website titled “Tigran Gambaryan Is Innocent and Must Be Released”, which he described as containing “false, malicious, and defamatory allegations against me.”

He added that Teng had also shared the article on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on the same day.

Onwusibe pointed out inconsistencies in the accusations, arguing that Binance’s initial claim was that demands for bribes were made by “unknown persons” after they had left the pre-hearing meeting. However, Gambaryan has now alleged that the bribe demands were made during the meeting, which he claims took place in a room equipped with “fake” cameras and microphones.

He further stated that until Teng’s publications on 7 May 2024, he was unaware that the executive arm of the Federal Government and its agencies were conducting their own separate investigations into Binance’s activities in Nigeria. He insisted that neither he nor the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes coordinated with any of these agencies.

The lawmaker reaffirmed his commitment to seeking “appropriate redress, remedies, and all lawful measures, including court action, to clear my good name.”