Untold story of the descent of code criminals into Nigerian prisons
Ganbarian says he wanted to hear Ogunjovi explain himself. On the phone, Gambarian remembers that EFCC officials began crying, repeatedly apologizing, and thanking God that Gambarian was released.
For the Ganbarian, it was too much to deal with. He listened quietly without accepting the apology. During Ogunjobi’s Outbouring, he finds out that an American friend calls him a secret service agent he has worked for in the past. Gambarian didn’t know that yet, but the agent happened to be in Rome for a meeting with Gambarian’s old boss, Jarod Koopman, head of the IRS-CI Cybercrime division. .
Ganbarian said he had to go to Ogunjovi and he finished the call.
cold and a Windy December day on Capitol Hill, a former federal agent and prosecutor, State Department official, Congressional aide and Congressional aide, in a gorgeous room in the Rayburn House Office Building. Members of the council come and shake hands with Tigran Ganbarian wearing a dark blue suit and tie. A month ago in Georgia.
The Gambarians pose for photos and chat with each lawmaker, aides and State Department officials long enough to thank them for their role in bringing him home. When French Hill says it’s good to see him again, Gambarian says he wants him to smell better than he did at the meeting in Querje.
The reception is one of a series of VIPs that Gambarian received on his return. At the Georgia airport, Representative McCormick began greeting him, giving him the American flag that flew over the Capitol the day before. White House released statement President Biden called the Nigerian president and said he “emphasized his gratitude for President Tinubu’s leadership in securing the release of American citizens and former US law enforcement agency Tigran Gambarian on humanitarian grounds.”
The appreciation statement was part of a deal that the US government attacked with Nigeria, including supporting the investigation of Binance, which is still ongoing. Nigeria continues to indict both Binans and Anjalwara for absenteeism. A Binance spokesman wrote in a statement that the company “is in peace and gratitude” that Gambaryan is at home thanks to everyone who worked to secure his release. “We want to keep this episode behind us and continue to work towards a bright future for the blockchain industry in Nigeria and around the world,” the statement adds. “We will continue to defend ourselves against false claims.” Nigerian government officials did not respond to Wired’s repeated requests for comments on the Gambarian incident.
After the reception, Gambarian and I take a taxi outside and ask for the next one for him. He says that if the new administration has him, he might be back in government — and if Yuki holds up another move to DC. (Crypto News site Coindesk Reported last month He is recommended by insiders in the cryptocurrency industry who have ties to President Trump for his role as a senior crypto assets in the SEC or as a high-level position in the FBI’s cyber division. ) Before thinking about such things, he says vaguely. You probably need time to straighten your head. ”
I ask him how he feels his experience in Nigeria has changed him. “Do you think that made me mad?” he responds in a strangely light tone, as if he was thinking of a question for the first time. “I’ve come to want to get vengeance for those who did this.”
Revenge on the Gambarian may be more than a fantasy. He is pursuing a human rights lawsuit against the Nigerian government that began while in custody and hopes there will be an investigation into Nigerians. Sometimes he sends a message to individual officials responsible, saying, “You’ll see me again,” and that what they did “hadowed the badge.” , but not what they did to his family.
“Was it stupid to do that? Probably,” he tells me by taxi. “I was on the floor with a backache and I was just bored.”
When I got out of my car at his hotel in Arlington and the gambarian was lit up a cigarette, I actually did how many years he was, despite my own explanation that he was more angry than before he was in prison. I tell him that I look happy to me for a while. When I was covering a series of takedowns of his corrupt federal agents, crypto money launderers, and child abusers, he was constantly angry, driving me, and mercilessly chasing the targets of investigations. .
Gambarian replies that if he appears more relaxed than he is now, he is happy to be home. Meet his family and his friends, and walk again, and not be captured between forces that are far greater than the conflicted self, which is almost in relation to him. There were none. Not dying in prison.
Gambarian disagrees with regard to his past rage.
“I don’t know if it was anger or not. It was justice,” he says. “I wanted justice, and I still do.”