•Binance chief, Tigran Gambaryan
The federal government has dropped all charges against an executive at Binance Holdings, Tigran Gambaryan on health grounds.
Gambaryan has been facing money laundering trial from detention since April, reports Channels TV.
A Counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court Abuja, before Justice Emeka Nwite.
The hearing is coming two days before the October 25 earlier scheduled as the return date by the trial judge in the open court last Friday.
Announcing the withdrawal of the charges, the EFCC lawyer said Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.
Counsel to Gambaryan, Mark Mordi, agreed with the prosecution, saying that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.
The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, had rejected his second bail application on October 11, ruling that Mr Gambaryan’s grounds of ill health were not sufficient to release him from detention.
The judge then fixed October 18 for continuation for trial but mister Gambaryan was absent on health grounds, according to prison.
The judge then rescheduled the trial for October 25, which appears to have now been overtaken by the event of Wednesday’s unpublicised hearing.
