The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has agreed to withdraw personal criminal charges brought against the top managers of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, who were effectively taken hostage.

On Friday, June 14, the tax service agreed to drop claims against the head of the Binance financial crime department, Tigran Gambaryan, and the regional manager of Binance in Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla.

The lawyer of Binance top managers, accused by the authorities of an African country of tax fraud and currency speculation amounting to more than $34 million, reported this to CoinDesk via email.

“It is true that the Federal Government of Nigeria is dropping charges against two individuals who were previously sued by FIRS along with cryptocurrency exchange Binance,” answered
FIRS spokesman Dare Adekanmbi responded to a request from Bloomberg journalists.

Thus, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange itself remained the only defendant in the case of money laundering and tax evasion brought by the Nigerian authorities. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 19.

In June, a group of American congressmen accused the Nigerian authorities of illegally detaining US citizen Gambaryan. Lawmakers have asked US President Joe Biden to assist in releasing a crypto exchange employee from custody.