According to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. federal government is allegedly examining the cryptocurrency and stablecoin company Tether for potential breaches of sanctions and anti-money-laundering regulations, according to unnamed sources close to the investigation. This criminal probe, reported by the Journal’s Angus Berwick, Vivian Salama, and Ben Foldy is said to be led by prosecutors at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, focusing on whether Tether has been used by third parties to finance illicit activities, including drug trafficking, terrorism, and hacking—or to launder proceeds generated from these activities. The price of bitcoin ( BTC) dumped below the $67K range following the news going viral. Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino vehemently denied that the U.S. government is investigating his company. “As we told [the] WSJ there is no indication that Tether is under investigation. WSJ is regurgitating old noise. Full stop,” Ardoino added on the social media platform X. The stablecoin issuer also made its own statement following Ardoino’s comment on the social media platform.
WSJ Report Claims Tether Faces US Federal Inquiry on Alleged AML Charges
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“It is wildly irresponsible for WSJ to write articles with reckless allegations with such certainty when no authorities have gone on the record to confirm these rumors, and no sources are named,” Tether said. “These stories are based on pure rank speculation despite Tether confirming that it has no knowledge of any such investigations into the company. The article also carelessly glosses over Tether’s well-documented and extensive dealings with law enforcement to crack down on bad actors seeking to misuse tether and other cryptocurrencies.”
