According to the Wall Street Journal, the cryptocurrency company Tether is currently under federal investigation for sanctions and anti-money laundering (AML) violations.
The criminal investigation, led by prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, reveals that Tether’s stablecoin USDT is involved in funding illegal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and hacking, or laundering the proceeds of such activities. We are investigating whether it is being used by three parties.
Suspicion of connection with terrorism and arms trade
According to the report, the U.S. Treasury Department is also considering imposing sanctions on Tether because its cryptocurrency is widely used among individuals and entities already sanctioned by the U.S. government. That’s what it means.
These include suspected links to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Russian arms dealers, leading to increased scrutiny of stablecoin issuers by authorities around the world.
The report points out that if sanctions are imposed, Tether will be prohibited from doing business with U.S. companies, which will have a significant impact on Tether’s operations.
Tether responds to investigation allegations
The Justice Department’s investigation into Tether is not new. The investigation began several years ago and initially focused on allegations that some of Tether’s backers may have committed bank fraud by using forged documents to gain access to the global banking system. Ta.
In response to the investigation, Tether labeled the allegations of aiding criminals and evading sanctions as “outrageous” and said it had no plans to undergo a broader investigation.
The company has reiterated in previous statements that it actively cooperates with U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to combat illegal activity, and believes that commitment is exemplified by its business operations. .
For example, the company has partnered with analytics firms such as Chainaracy and TRM Labs to increase transaction monitoring, and has successfully worked with governments around the world to freeze wallets identified as belonging to criminals from various criminal organizations. I did.
Regarding this report, company CEO Paolo Ardoino said the following on social media site X (formerly Twitter):
As we told WSJ, there is no indication that Tether is under investigation. WSJ is regurgitating old noise. Full stop.
The 1D chart shows that the market capitalization valuation of cryptocurrencies is $2.24 trillion. Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
