The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina publicly commended stablecoin issuer Tether for its assistance in recovering funds related to a major fraud scheme. Tether helped the Department of Justice move $5 billion in seized assets stolen through a cryptocurrency investment scam known as "pig butchering."
Court documents show that criminals lured victims of the scam by posing as romantic partners to gain their trust. After that, the scammers introduced fake crypto trading schemes to unsuspecting victims, promising huge returns through platforms similar to legitimate crypto trading platforms.
The prosecutor's office noted that after the scammers tried to obfuscate the transactions, FBI agents, with the help of Tether, tracked the victims' funds into and through various crypto wallets. (CoinEdition)