The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it has added eight Tron wallet addresses associated with the Yemeni Houthi armed forces to its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN), accusing them of engaging in illegal financial activities through Tether (USDT). The Treasury Department said that the network was controlled by Sa'id al-Jamal, a senior Houthi financial official based in Iran, and involved the purchase of sensitive commodities such as Russian weapons and stolen food from Ukraine, and shipped to Houthi-controlled areas. Sa'id al-Jamal has been listed as a global specially designated terrorist since 2021. These wallets have been active since 2023 and frequently use USDT, with some transactions reaching $1 million. The sanctions are based on Presidential Executive Order No. 13324, which aims to freeze the assets of terrorist organizations and prohibit U.S. citizens from trading with them.
Tether officials have not yet responded to media comments on whether they are aware of the sanctions. So far, Tether has blocked more than 2,100 addresses, involving more than $1.3 billion in funds.