US Prosecutors Freeze $84M in Assets Linked to Tether, Bitfinex

US prosecutors in California have frozen approximately $84.2 million in assets belonging to Capstone Ltd, a payments group accused of moving money without a license. The funds were transferred through a Wells Fargo account, which disbursed $337 million between March and December 2025.

The majority of this amount was sent to hundreds of recipients outside the US on behalf of two unnamed crypto firms, Tether and Bitfinex. Capstone presented itself as an IT services company to banks, but was incorporated in Montana, a state that doesn't license money transmitters.

Prosecutors also linked Capstone to a separate scam involving elderly victims who were tricked into sending payments, which were then converted to USDT within a day or so. Tether and Bitfinex claim they had no knowledge of the conduct alleged against Capstone and have limited assets at EQIBank, a Dominica-licensed digital bank.