Tether, considered the largest stablecoin in the market, falsified documents provided to its banking partners and is under investigation by the US Department of Justice for bank fraud, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report released last Friday. (3).
The article states that Tether and Bitfinex, the parent company, enlisted the help of third party accounts to transact and access the global banking system.
According to the WSJ, the companies behind Tether have been using it shady intermediaries, forged documents and shell companies to deceive banks, This is evident from documents that the newspaper had access to.
Tether’s efforts to maintain banking access became urgent in March 2017 when the Wells Fargo bank stopped processing transactions from several Taiwanese accounts that Tether used.
The move created “an existential threat to its business,” according to a lawsuit filed against the bank by Tether and its sister companies.
In addition, there are allegations that Tether has used false invoices and contracts to hide cryptocurrency-related transactions. Tether denied the allegations, calling them “inaccurate”.
The journalists further claimed that New York-based Signature Bank Tether had refused to open an account on multiple occasions. For this reason, Tether used broker AML Global to create a bank account, which Tether and Bitfinex later used to conduct fraudulent transactions.
The article cites multiple internal documents and emails stating that the companies behind Tether routinely hide their identities behind individuals and shell companies.
However, the use of fake documents has gotten Tether into trouble a few times, with authorities in Europe and the United States seizing more than $850 million in Tether funds while investigating allegations of bank fraud and money laundering. of money. .
tenderly denies
In a post titled “More FUD on Tether from the WSJ,” Tether stated that the Wall Street Journal’s allegations “totally inaccurate and misleading”.
The company also claims that both exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin issuer Tether have compliance programs in place to adhere to legal anti-money laundering requirements.
Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Tether, tweeted Friday afternoon that the WSJ article contained “a bunch of misinformation and inaccuracies.”
“I am at the anniversary of PlanB in Lugano, So much energy and people excited to talk about Bitcoin.” He said and added: “While on stage I heard some clowns honking, presumably because of the WSJ. As usual, tons of misinformation and inaccuracies.”
I’m on the PlanB anniversary #lugano
So much energy and people who are excited to talk about #Bitcoin
While on stage I heard some clowns honk, pretty sure it was WSJ.
As always tons of misinformation and inaccuracies. Poor guys, it must be hard being them, but they need better media.— Paolo Ardoino 🍐 (@paoloardoino) March 3, 2023
Tether is seen as a major player in the cryptocurrency market and its activities are closely monitored by financial authorities around the world.
The banking troubles could have a significant negative impact on the cryptocurrency market as a whole, as the world’s largest stablecoin is seen as a possible black swan in the industry.
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Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
