Catenaa, Friday, June 27, 2025-The US Department of Justice on last week moved to seize $225.3 million in USDT, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency issued by Tether, in what officials described as the largest forfeiture action tied to “pig butchering” crypto scams.
Federal authorities allege the funds were laundered through OKX, a major digital asset exchange, via a sophisticated blockchain network that concealed the origins of money linked to widespread investment fraud. The DOJ said more than 144 accounts associated with the scam deposited over $3 billion in crypto over a one-year period, primarily from IP addresses in the Philippines.
“Pig butchering” scams—so named after the practice of fattening livestock before slaughter—are confidence schemes, often originating in Asia, that rely on building emotional trust via fake online personas before defrauding victims.
Tether and OKX cooperated with federal authorities to identify and freeze the funds. Tether notified the US Secret Service after detecting suspicious activity tied to human trafficking and fraud in 2023.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company is committed to setting compliance standards in digital assets and ensuring stablecoins are not abused. The firm claims it has frozen $2.7 billion in tokens linked to criminal activity to date.
USDT, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, is widely used for trading and liquidity in digital markets. The DOJ called the seized amount a product of “high-volume money laundering” orchestrated across thousands of transactions to hide the illicit proceeds.
No criminal charges were announced alongside the forfeiture filing.
The DOJ has yet to respond publicly.
