Tether Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Illegal Freeze of $42.4M USDT
Two Thai businessmen, Nutthawat Rukthammachalern and Natthawat Kasamvilas, have filed a lawsuit against Tether in federal court in Manhattan. The complaint alleges that Tether illegally froze $42.4 million worth of USDT before a seizure warrant had been issued by U.S. authorities.
The plaintiffs claim that the freeze was informally requested by an HSI agent and that no warrant, subpoena, or court order had been issued to support the action. Kasamvilas claims to have not known about the freeze until attempting to make a transaction, and that he was sent to an HSI agent's email address when he contacted Tether.
The frozen USDT is linked to a North Carolina pig-butchering case, where investigators said the funds had been sent to wallets linked to 'pig-butchering' scams on fake trading exchanges. The Justice Department stated that Tether participated in the asset transfer.