The Nigerian government has recovered almost $60 million in seized assets from the US since the release of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan. Local media outlet Premium Times disclosed this, noting that it is part of the conditions for the release.
According to Premium Times, Nigeria included several terms in the diplomatic agreement that led to the Gambaryan’s release after almost a year in detention. The agreement reportedly involved top-level officials in the US government, including US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Part of those terms was for the US to release some seized funds to the Nigerian government. Authorities in the West African country reportedly demanded that the US release around $380 million worth of assets to Nigeria. These funds were mostly connected to corruption cases against Nigerian political leaders, and Nigeria has been trying to recover them for years.
They included $53 million from property forfeitures in the case of former minister of Petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke and about $150 million linked to former Military Head of State Sanni Abacha, which has been frozen in France since 2012. The US government also seized about €160 million from a former Nigerian governor.
So far, some of these funds have been released to Nigeria. Per the report, the US District Court of Eastern California ordered the $6.02 million connected to an arms deal that occurred a decade ago to be returned to Nigeria. The US seized the funds at the time because the arms broker hired by the Nigerian government did not have an active license.
The $52.88 million linked to Alison-Madueke has also been released, with Nigerian officials and US Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills Jr signing an asset return agreement on January 10, 2025.
Under the agreement, Nigeria will spend $50 million on a rural electrification project through the World Bank. The remaining $2.88 million will go to the International Institute of Justice (IIJ) as a grant supporting the Rule of Law and Counterterrorism Project.
Nigeria and the US deepened their partnership due to Gambaryan’s release
Meanwhile, the release of Gambaryan from detention has also strengthened the partnership between the US and Nigerian governments. One of the conditions for the release was that it would be considered a diplomatic gesture between the US and Nigeria.
This has already happened, with the authorities stating that the release was on humanitarian grounds. Since then, the bilateral relations between Nigeria and the US have improved, especially regarding collaboration to address financial and cybercrimes.
On the same day of Gambaryan’s release, the US Embassy in Nigeria launched the US-Nigeria Bilateral Liaison Group on Illicit Finance and Cryptocurrencies. Through this group, the US Department of Justice is helping law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to build capacity for investigating and prosecuting these crimes.
However, it is uncertain whether the strong bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the US will continue under the new administration. Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president, there have been sweeping changes to US foreign policy, including with its allies.
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