According to a report in The New York Times citing two people familiar with the matter, the U.S. government has urged Nigeria to release Tigran Gambaryan, an employee of cryptocurrency exchange Binance who was arrested in February and has faced deteriorating health while in prison.

Tigran Gambaryan was Binance's financial crime compliance chief and previously a criminal investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department. He traveled to Nigeria with Binance's Africa regional manager, Nadeem Anjarwalla, in February at the invitation of the Nigerian government to participate in a high-level meeting about Binance's compliance issues in the country. However, the government later accused the exchange of disrupting the country's currency and detained the two executives.

Related Report: Wall Street Journal: Is Binance to Blame for Nigeria's Currency Crisis?

Two anonymous senior U.S. State Department officials revealed that Gambaryan's detention has become a significant factor in U.S.-Nigerian diplomatic relations. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue with Nigerian officials in May. Other U.S. diplomats, including the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, have also called for Gambaryan's release in private talks with Nigerian President, Finance Minister, Justice Minister, and Trade Minister.

Informed officials stated that Gambaryan, 40, suffers from malaria and health issues stemming from a herniated disc. U.S. diplomats believe he should be released on humanitarian grounds. Gambaryan's family has said he has not received adequate medical care, resulting in a rapid decline in his health.

Nigerian prosecutors have accused Gambaryan and Binance of tax evasion and money laundering. While the tax charges against Gambaryan have been dropped, other charges remain ongoing. Binance denies these allegations, arguing that Gambaryan was merely a mid-level manager and should not be held responsible for the company's actions.

A representative for the Nigerian federal government said on Thursday that Gambaryan has access to medical care from qualified doctors, stating that "the court is the proper forum for assessing the merits of any litigation." Bayo Onanuga, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, said U.S. Ambassador Richard M. Mills Jr. met this month with the President's Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, and other officials. Onanuga said, "Discussions are ongoing. The government will strive to act within the legal framework, while bearing in mind Gambaryan's humanitarian rights."

Gambaryan's lawyer, Robert S. Litt, maintains that the Nigerian authorities' accusations are fabricated and that they know Gambaryan is innocent. Litt has urged the State Department to invoke a four-year-old law, the Levinson Act, to designate Gambaryan as "wrongfully detained." This would be a significant escalation and could open the door to sanctions or other punitive actions against individual Nigerian officials.

Informed officials indicated that the State Department has not ruled out such action and is monitoring the case for any signs of wrongdoing. One informed official said the U.S. government still has some faith in the Nigerian judicial system. However, an individual close to the Nigerian president revealed that local officials believe the U.S. is interfering in their judicial processes and do not view it as a humanitarian issue.