A Jerusalemite family who lost relatives in a 1997 Hamas suicide bombing is among the plaintiffs pushing a US federal court to order Tether to hand over hundreds of millions of frozen digital currencies.
The case, filed in Manhattan, could set an important legal precedent for how courts deal with issuers of centralized stablecoins.
Debts that are decades old
the Plaintiffs They are survivors and family members of victims of Iran-related terrorist attacks. They hold court judgments against Iran issued years ago that have never been paid.
They are now targeting a pile of frozen cryptocurrencies as a way to collect their dues.
Attorney Charles Gerstein foot The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Filing against Tether submitted by Attorney Charles Gerstein.
Its clients say they have a legal claim to two Tron blockchain wallet addresses containing approximately 344 million USDT. These wallets were frozen earlier this year by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which identified them as being linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The plaintiffs are not simply asking Tether to release those specific wallets. According to reports, they want a court order directing Tether to transfer an equivalent amount of USDT to their legal team’s wallet address.
Why can Tether be forced?
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, USDT is controlled by a central company. pregnancy It can freeze wallets, block transactions, and transfer funds when asked to do so. This central structure is at the heart of Gerstein’s legal argument.
Since the advance order has already frozen wallets — which is only possible because Tether has direct operational control — he confirms that the company could also be ordered to move funds.
BTCUSD trading at $78,115 on the 24-hour chart: TradingView
He says the ownership issue has been largely settled already: Office of Foreign Assets Control It has already declared the wallets to be assets controlled by the IRGC, paving the way for seizure under US terrorism laws.
Wider legal campaign
This is not the only Gerstein case of this kind. Based on reports, he has filed similar actions related to North Korea-related cyber operations against Arbitrum. He is also dealing with a separate issue related to Railgun DAO, a privacy-focused crypto protocol.
The Manhattan filing is part of what appears to be a coordinated legal push to test whether courts can force centrally controlled cryptocurrency platforms to act on frozen assets held in sanctioned wallets.
Featured image from CEPA, chart from TradingView
Editing process Bitcoinist focuses on providing well-researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We adhere to strict sourcing standards, and every page is carefully reviewed by our team of senior technology experts and experienced editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content to our readers.
