When journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan arrived on U.S. soil this month, after many months in Russian jails, it was a joyous moment for most Americans. But for Yuki Gambaryan, it was bittersweet. That's because her own husband, Tigran, a former IRS special agent who has played a pivotal role in catching terrorists and crypto criminals, remains detained on spurious charges in a Nigerian prison, where his health is fading.
"Every day it's nothing but frustration for our family. Six months is a long time for an innocent man to be detained, and the fear of losing him is all consuming," a worried Gambaryan told Fortune from her family's home in Georgia.
The family's ordeal began when Tigran, a cybersecurity expert and executive with the crypto firm Binance, traveled to Nigeria in February to act as an emissary for the company, which has been negotiating settlements with governments around the world—it recently concluded ones with the U.S., Brazil, and India—to resolve investigations into poor compliance practices.
The tone of the talks in Nigeria rapidly shifted, however, when authorities abruptly arrested Gambaryan and another executive on money laundering and tax evasion charges. The arrests coincided with a serious depreciation in Nigeria's currency that the government has blamed on Binance, but which economists have said is due to mismanagement of the country's economy. In March, the BBC reported that Nigerian authorities were seeking a payment of $10 billion from Binance.
Since then, Gambaryan has fallen gravely ill in prison following severe bouts of malaria. He is now immobile and unable to leave his cell, says his wife, and the Nigerian authorities have refused to provide him with a wheelchair. She and Binance say he has also been denied regular access to legal counsel. Yuki Gambaryan says the overall situation amounts to human rights violations.
A hostage in fact but not in law
Gambaryan's plight has also produced concern and sympathy among others in the cybersecurity world, where he is widely respected for helping to track down drug lords, terrorists, and child pornographers. Gambaryan's exploits led him to become a principal protagonist in Tracers in the Dark, a recent book about the "dark web." A New York Times review rhetorically asked, "Who wouldn't root for Tigran Gambaryan, the hard-working accountant who morphs into a tough-guy I.R.S. agent covered in Greek Orthodox tattoos?"
Meanwhile, executives at Binance's archrival Coinbase are expressing support. "Tigran’s contributions to improving the safety and security of our industry have been invaluable, and we hope for a timely and just resolution to this situation," Philip Martin, an Army veteran who is Coinbase's head of security, told Fortune.
But even as the moral case to free Gambaryan appears to be compelling, the U.S. State Department—which was instrumental in the recent freeing of Gershkovich and other hostages—has yet to formally designate him as wrongfully detained.
The "wrongfully detained" designation is not only a symbolic gesture but also a practical one, since those who receive it become priorities of a special State Department agency known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. Granting this status to Gambaryan would effectively recognize him as a political hostage, which would oblige the special agency to provide expertise and frequent updates under a 2023 law called the Levinson Act. Several members of Congress have already demanded this.
In response to an inquiry from Fortune about whether Gambaryan will receive the special designation, a State Department spokesperson provided a carefully worded statement.
"The Department reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of all U.S. nationals overseas for indicators that they are wrongful. When making these assessments, the Department looks at the totality of the circumstances for each case individually. We will continue to monitor Tigran Gambaryan’s case closely," said the spokesperson by email.
A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the State Department may be hesitating in designating Gambaryan as a hostage since Nigeria—unlike Russia, North Korea, and other places where Americans are wrongly detained—is a U.S. ally. The Nigerian government did not respond to a request for comment.
"We continue our efforts to resolve this situation," said a spokesperson for Binance. "The Nigerian government does not need to hold an innocent employee to get us engaged."
As the geopolitical aspects of the case drag on, Yuki Gambaryan says she is grateful to the State Department for speaking with her but that she is worried and frustrated. She is doing what she can, including launching a "Bring Tigran home" website, but frets that he was recently denied counsel again prior to his next hearing on Sept. 2.
The hardest part she says is when it comes to her children, who are 5 and 10. While she has had semi-regular phone calls with her husband, they have been arranged at times the children are asleep or at school, leaving them to ask her if they will see their father again.
"I don't know how to comfort them," Gambaryan says. "I am begging the Nigerian authorities to let him go home."
