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Feds: Tether has become a money laundering tool for Mexican drug trafficker
- goles 2y agohttps://archive.is/LvAQa https://archive.is/LvAQa
- freddealmeida 2y agoTether accounts can be frozen by the FBI. Not sure how it can be used by the cartels? What am I missing?
- wmf 2y agoWhat if it can be frozen but in practice it isn't.
- cempaka 2y agoThere's a pic floating around out there of Brock Pierce shaking Merrick Garland's hand at the White House.
- skybrian 2y agoWhich accounts do you mean? Tether-denominated accounts could be at any cryptocurrency exchange or on a blockchain.
- superkuh 2y agoThis is basically true of any useful means of exchanging currencies or value. Far, far, more mexican drug trafficker laundering has been, and is being done, at places like Wells Fargo.
- Kenji 2y agoSo? The US dollar has funded terrorism in the Middle East for decades and we don't see the Feds becoming concerned about the way this currency works.
- cuteboy19 2y agowhereas the dollar is a decentralized currency that no one can fully control, tether is a centralized scam propped up by a handful of exchanges
- BLKNSLVR 2y agoTether can and has frozen certain funds due illegal activity (at the request of 'authorities') - so I've heard at least - so it would appear that there's precedent. The fact that the Feds are calling this out is... interesting if they're not also actually making any attempt to freeze these funds. Potential dog whistling.
- Loughla 2y agoI am 100% sure the United States Federal government has been very concerned about terrorism in the middle east. I am not certain your whataboutism works in this case.
- ipaddr 2y agoI would offer a different point of view. On US soil they seem to be more concerned about it. When someone blows themselves up the US doesn't get involved. When terrorist/freedom fighters attack governments with unfriendly countries the US might be funding that. The US cares about the overall goal of regional stability. They can use terrorism by funding groups with similar interests to advance their goals. When terrorism is used against them personally they care.
- passwordoops 2y agoDrop in the bucket compared to what HSBC alone (continues) to launder [1]. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and suggest the banks may have advised the use of Tether [1] https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/hsbc-moved-vast-sums-of-dirty-money-after-paying-record-laundering-fine/ https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/hsbc-moved-...
- EA-3167 2y agoThat sounds like an argument to hold HSBC to account, *and* Tether as well. Or was this meant to be nothing more than a false equivalence?
- capybaraStorm 2y agoIt is a data point to suggest that Tether has another common property. For instance, it has been observed that oxygen is consumed by all living money launderers. If we could not produce evidence anyone but money launderers breathed, we may be able to assess cutting off oxygen might be a useful tool in surgically cutting out money laundering. Knowing Tether and HSBC are both used for money laundering add a data point in finding surgical precision.
- Aurornis 2y agoIt’s a textbook whataboutism appeal. HSBC actually paid significant fines, according to the linked article. Tether has not. So in this case Tether does not have moral equivalence despite how much the Tether proponents want everyone looking at everything except Tether.
- tbrownaw 2y agoIt's a claim of selective enforcement. Which is rather different from actual "you need to eat your vegetables because there are starving children in Africa" whataboutism.
- Aurornis 2y agoThis is a report of only one type of laundering happening on Tether. I suspect it barely scratches the surface. As a percentage of Tether operations it’s rather significant Regardless, HSBC paid fines. Tether should be held accountable too.
- coretx 2y agoIf it's /seen/ as a laundering tool, it's no longer a laundering tool. So this is about money mules, not actual traffickers.
- BLKNSLVR 2y agoTether also owns billions of dollars of US Government bonds. Does this mean they're more or less likely to be protected by US interests?
- skybrian 2y agoI don’t see why it would matter. The US treasury market value is more than $25 trillion.
- bogota 2y agoWhy would it be sold cheaper in Mexico when you can go on a dex and trade it for any number of tokens and cash it out. This just doesn’t make sense and im not signing up to read their stupid articles. Likely this will be upvoted here though because it paints crypto in a negative light. Enjoy HN.
- mmh0000 2y agoIn today’s breaking news: Money used to buy things.