Nigeria Sues Binance for $81.5 Billion in Economic Losses, Back Taxes: Reports

CORRECT (Feb. 20, 14:35 UTC): Corrects attribution to Binance throughout, a previous version cited PCB block; adds Reuters article references.Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is suing Binance for $79.5 billion in economic losses as well as $2 billion plus interest in back taxes, on Wednesday referencing court documents.This is a leap from the initial $10 billion figure that Nigeria's government sought after alleging that the exchange had enabled $26 billion of untraceable funds to leave the country as it faced a foreign exchange crisis and was looking to restrict capital outflows last year.The FIRS alleges that Binance has a "significant economic presence" in Nigeria so should be liable to pay corporate income tax, Reuters reported citing documents it had seen. Binance was not immediately available to comment.Nigeria has been pursuing litigation against Binance since early last year. The country detained two of its executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla in February. The country charged the executives plus the exchange with money laundering and tax evasion charges but later released Gambaryan after Anjarwalla, fleed. Binance is still facing money laundering charges from the country.Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service did not get back to CoinDesk with a comment.