US Prosecutors Want $84.2 Million From a Bank Tied to Tether

In brief

• The Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint on July 15 targeting $84.2 million in accounts tied to Capstone Ltd., a payments firm prosecutors say moved money for Tether without the required license.
• The bulk of the money, $79.11 million, sat in a Wells Fargo Securities account; smaller sums were held at JPMorgan Chase and in two USDT wallets.
• Tether confirmed EQIBank, the Dominica-based bank behind Capstone, processed its wire transfers, but said it had "no knowledge" of the conduct under investigation and put its exposure at less than 0.034% of group assets.

The US Department of Justice wants to keep $84.2 million that, according to a civil forfeiture complaint, moved through accounts used to process payments for Tether.

The complaint, filed July 15 in the Eastern District of California before Judge Dale A. Drozd, targets Capstone Ltd., a Montana-based payments firm. According to the complaint, Capstone operated as an unlicensed money transmitter—a business category regulators require a license for specifically because it moves other people's money—in at least six states, and presented itself to banks as an ordinary IT services company.

Capstone's owners, identified as Kotaro Shimogori and Mary Jeanne Thompson, are named in the complaint while the FBI executed a search warrant at a Sacramento residence. Their attorney said the company "denies any wrongdoing" and hopes to "resolve this matter quickly," according to the Financial Times.