According to a report published by Bloomberg this Monday, a new team of federal prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department is taking a fresh look at the ongoing investigation into controversial stablecoin issuer Tether.
Last July, U.Today reported that Tether was facing a criminal probe, with federal prosecutors attempting to determine whether or not the company’s executives committed bank fraud.
The previous team of investigators didn’t manage to reach a definitive conclusion after looking into Tether’s questionable banking relationships, which prompted them to transfer the case.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is now in charge of the high-stakes probe, according to the report.
At this stage, it is unclear whether the executives will be charged with any wrongdoings as a result of the probe.
Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Tether, dismissed the importance of the investigation in a recent tweet, accusing Bloomberg of “recycling old news.”
Tether remains the biggest cryptocurrency in the world with a market value of roughly $69.1 billion.
In February 2021, Tether and sister exchange Bitfinex reached a settlement agreement with the New York Attorney General's Office (NYAG) after it was sued for allegedly engaging in a cover-up to hide the apparent loss of $850 million.
In early August, Coindesk reported that the exchange might be facing a criminal investigation.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin