, the dominant issuer, reportedly froze more than $544mn in assets owned by a Turkish national, Veysel Sahin, a fugitive known locally as the "betting baron," at the request of authorities who accuse Sahin of running illegal gambling platforms and money laundering, according to Bloomberg.
"Law enforcement came to us, they provided some information, we looked at the information and we acted in respect of the laws of the country," Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino was cited as saying in a recent interview with Bloomberg. "And that’s what we do when we work with the DOJ, when we work with the FBI, you name it."
Broader enforcement sweep
According to Bloomberg's reporting, the USDT US dollar-backed stablecoin had been used in the alleged scheme. Istanbul didn't identify the crypto company that assisted it in freezing Sahin’s assets.
Turkiye has already seized more than $1bn in digital assets as part of a sweeping campaign which froze another $500mn of belonging to an individual also accused of illegal betting and money laundering, according to broadcaster NTV.
USDT in other schemes
Tether, which controls around two-thirds of the stablecoin market, has a of $185bn and says it holds about 71% of the stablecoin .
Its USDT stablecoin has featured in other high-profile cases. The of Iran used a network of crypto asset wallets to acquire $507mn USDT, according to Elliptic. In January, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia charged a Venezuelan national with laundering $1bn in illicit funds. An Elliptic report said that the alleged scheme used a sophisticated methodology based around USDT, intended to obscure the audit trail of the illicit funds.
Preparing a US return
Tether has been scrambling to cooperate with law enforcement on with crypto-related investigations while the company it seeks a return to the US market, where it had previously clashed with regulators. The firm is also considering an ambitious fund raising of $5bn that could value the company at approximately $500bn.
Tether aims to ensure long-term survival by offering USA₮, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued through a regulated US entity designed to comply with the as a domestic US-focused product.
According to the company, it has assisted in more than 1,800 investigations in 62 countries, resulting in the freezing of $3.4bn in USDT linked to alleged illicit activities.
