Thai Businessmen Challenge Tether's Blacklist Authority Over Frozen USDT
Two Thai businessmen have filed a lawsuit against Tether over the freezing of $42.4 million in USDT. Nutthawat Rukthammachalern and Natthawat Kasamvilas claim that Tether blacklisted their Ethereum addresses on October 30, 2025, after receiving an informal request from a Homeland Security Investigations agent.
The plaintiffs allege that this was done without a formal warrant or court order. A magistrate judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina later issued seizure warrant 5:26-MJ-1267-JG on February 19, 2026, nearly four months after the blacklist was imposed.
The addresses were part of a broader federal investigation into cryptocurrency investment fraud. Tether assisted investigators with transferring the seized assets, which ultimately totaled over $61 million in USDT. The plaintiffs maintain that they acquired their USDT through secondary-market business transactions and deny participating in the underlying fraud.