US DOJ seizes 9 million USDT frozen by Tether issuer

The assets were linked to a fraudulent group

22.11.2023 - 09:53

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What’s new? The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized 9 million USDT stablecoins frozen in a joint operation with Tether issuer and OKX crypto exchange. The coins were linked to the addresses of fraudsters who victimized more than 70 citizens. The group created fake crypto investment platform websites and convinced victims to invest in them during private chats on social networks.

Press release

What else is known? The US Secret Service was able to track the victims’ deposits and found that the fraudsters promptly laundered the funds received by sending them to several dozen wallets and exchanging them for other cryptocurrencies. This approach allows criminals to hide the source of the funds and their ownership.

Officials noted that the cryptocurrency ecosystem is no longer an ideal tool for laundering criminal proceeds, as the agency continues to improve its tracking methods. The DOJ also expressed gratitude to Tether for its assistance in the asset transfer.

Overall, in a joint operation, Tether, OKX, and the DOJ conducted the largest USDT freeze in history on November 20, worth $225 million. The funds were stored on external non-custodial wallets and were linked to a Southeast Asian criminal group. The funds were traced using analytical tools from Chainalysis.

Tether emphasized that it complies with customer identification and anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) measures under the Bank Secrecy Act and financial institution best practices. The compliance team also checks potential clients’ data against the database of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the US Department of the Treasury to ensure that individuals and entities under sanctions are not served.

In addition, Tether cooperates with law enforcement agencies around the world to prevent illegal activities by investigating suspicious transactions on the secondary market, the company stressed.

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