$225M USDT Scam Money Stuck in Limbo as Ownership Disputes Drag On
A $225 million stash of scam-linked USDT was seized by U.S. investigators in a high-profile case, but returning it to its rightful owners is proving to be a complex and time-consuming process.
The money was tied to cryptocurrency investment fraud and laundering, according to a civil forfeiture complaint filed in June 2025. The Justice Department has said that several hundred people have submitted claims for the seized assets, while British Virgin Islands-based gaming company Infiniweb has asserted an ownership interest in the funds.
Despite cooperation from Tether, the issuer of USDT, tracing the ownership of the seized assets is not a straightforward task. Investigators used the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) method to track the flow of funds through various wallets and accounts, but this does not necessarily establish legal title to every token in the seized pool.
Compensation for the victims will require courts to resolve ownership claims, verify losses, and determine how the recovered pool is distributed. The process is expected to be lengthy, with no approved allocation or payment schedule announced yet.