Tether hit back at a report from Bloomberg that claimed the U.S. Department of Justice was reviving a probe into the stablecoin issuer.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that a case alleging Tether had deceived banks to move around funds was being transferred to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said that the confidential case was transferred internally due to the “uncertain legal terrain” in the cryptocurrency space.
Tether refuted these claims in a statement posted to its blog after the article was published.
“It is business as usual at Tether, as we continue to lead the industry in transparency, as the largest and most agile stablecoin on the market. Sensationalized journalism and poor reporting will not stop that and any claims otherwise are blatant lies,” said Tether in a statement.
The company behind the stablecoin USDT said that it routinely engages in dialogue with law enforcement agencies like the U.S. Department of Justice and it has had no interactions with the DOJ in connection with any investigation for well over a year.
The company also said that many of the events outlined in the Bloomberg report contain inaccuracies and occurrence’s that took place with its sister company Bitfinex. Last year, Bitfinex paid $18.5 million in a settlement to the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office after a probe that began in April 2019.
The NYAG-led enquiry alleged that Bitfinex and Tether overstated their reserves and, in doing so, “unlawfully covered-up” $850 million worth of losses. The lawsuit concluded with the settlement offer. with Tether and Bitfinex admitting no wrongdoing, but agreeing to submit quarterly reports showing the state of Tether’s reserves.
Earlier this month, Tether announced that it had cut its commercial paper reserves to zero, replacing them with U.S. Treasury Bills as a more secure alternative.
