Tether Freezes $225 Million in USDT After DOJ Investigation, Calling It ‘Largest-Ever Freeze of USDT’

Tether has introduced the “largest-ever freeze of USDT in historical past.” In collaboration with crypto trade Okx, Tether froze $225 million in USDT following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The tokens have been allegedly linked to a world human trafficking syndicate in Southeast Asia accountable for a worldwide “pig butchering” crypto rip-off.

$225M in USDT Frozen by Tether

Leading stablecoin issuer Tether and crypto trade Okx introduced Monday that they’ve collaborated with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) “in an investigation that led to Tether proactively and voluntarily freezing roughly 225 million in USDT tokens in exterior self-custodied wallets.” The wallets are “linked to a world human trafficking syndicate in Southeast Asia accountable for a worldwide ‘pig butchering’ romance rip-off,” the crypto firms detailed, including:

The joint investigation was carried out utilizing instruments from blockchain evaluation agency Chainalysis, and the motion by Tether represents the largest-ever freeze of USDT in historical past.

After months of investigation, Tether, Okx, and regulation enforcement businesses, together with the U.S. DOJ, recognized the areas of the illicit funds, the announcement explains, noting: “These actions prompted the initiation of a freeze request by the United States Secret Service and a voluntary freeze by Tether.”

According to an evaluation by Lookonchain, Tether froze 37 wallets linked to a human trafficking group on Monday. These wallets had been transferring USDT to crypto trade Okx.

Tether froze ~225M $USDT (37 wallets) linked to a human trafficking group 1 hour in the past.

These wallets had been transferring $USDT earlier than being frozen, with a lot of the $USDT being transferred to #OKX.

Check frozen TX right here.https://t.co/TlfFJvpgiW pic.twitter.com/vEMTd3YzBq

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) November 20, 2023

Tether claimed: “The frozen wallets are on the secondary market and are usually not related to Tether’s clients.” The crypto agency emphasised: “To the extent lawful wallets have been captured by this operation, Tether will work shortly with regulation enforcement and the homeowners of these wallets to unfreeze them, as acceptable.” In October, Tether froze 32 addresses linked to suspicious operations in Israel and Ukraine.

Pig butchering crypto scams have been on the rise globally. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has repeatedly warned about these scams. In August final 12 months, U.S. authorities stated that this kind of rip-off is changing into alarmingly popular. In April this 12 months, the U.S. Department of Justice seized cryptocurrency price $112 million in a pig butchering rip-off crackdown. Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warned that U.S. taxpayers are presently the most targeted inhabitants for pig butchering schemes.

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