US seizes $9 million in Tether coins tied to romance scams

The US government seized almost $9 million worth of Tether tokens traced to an organized network of scammers who stole millions from victims across the country.

The Justice Department said the crackdown was tied to scams commonly known as “pig butchering,” where the organization exploited more than 70 victims by creating non-existent crypto trading platforms. The announcement came a day after Tether Holdings Ltd. said it froze approximately $225 million in holdings of its USDT cryptocurrency amid an investigation into an international human trafficking group. Tether collaborated with the Justice Department, the company said on Monday, along with crypto exchange OKX.