{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-releases-psi-report-detailing-how-lutnick-linked-crypto-firm-tether-props-up-irans-shadow-banking-system", "Blumenthal Releases PSI Report Detailing how Lutnick-Linked Crypto Firm Tether Props Up Iran's Shadow Banking System", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", "blumenthal", "https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press", "scraper", "[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), today released a new report detailing how Tether and its dollar-pegged stablecoin (USDT) have become a significant financial lifeline within Iran\u2019s shadow banking network.\n\nAs part of its ongoing inquiry into the role of cryptocurrencies in illicit finance, PSI Democratic investigators conducted a forensic analysis of blockchain transaction data from 846 unique cryptocurrency wallets that have been sanctioned or targeted for seizure due to their association with Iran and its regional proxies. This analysis shows that Tether has, in effect, provided Iran access to a high-liquidity international payment system that the United States has assiduously sought to deny it.\n\n\u201cMy new PSI report exposes how Tether and its flagship token have become central to Iran\u2019s shadow banking system, allowing the Iranian government to fund its regional proxies, commit human rights abuses, and pursue hostile drone and missile programs as they defy our sanctions regime,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s glaring lack of oversight of cryptocurrency issuers has undermined our own national security interests. That is why I am calling on the Department of Treasury and Justice to immediately investigate Tether and hold it accountable for these potential sanctions violations.\u201d\n\nA summary of PSI\u2019s key findings is below:\n\nTether has become a primary illicit international payment system for Iran, allowing it to circumvent international sanctions on its banks: Of the 846 wallets sanctioned for their association with Iran and its terrorist proxies, 84% have transacted exclusively, or nearly exclusively, in USDT. These activities include efforts by the Iranian government to move funds into, and out of, Iran and to prop up the country\u2019s currency in the face of U.S. sanctions, including through the Central Bank of Iran.\n\nTether serves as a central payment mechanism that interlinks Iran and its terrorist proxy organizations, undermining U.S. security interests in the region: Iran\u2019s cryptocurrency-based shadow banking network has reached significant volumes of funds and implicate different Iranian interests. In addition to supporting terrorist organizations, there is evidence that this shadow banking network is used for the procurement and sales of drones and other military equipment.\n\nTether\u2019s failure to freeze illicit wallets and prevent abuse created the permissive environment under which Iranian shadowing banking could flourish: Prior to 2024, Tether did not comprehensively and consistently freeze wallets designated by counter-terrorism agencies and continues to fail to proactively block clearly illicit wallets. This absence of deterrence invited abuse: terrorist organizations such as Hamas shifted from transacting in Bitcoin and a mix of cryptocurrencies, to promoting USDT.\n\nIn letters sent today to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Todd Blanche, Blumenthal referred PSI\u2019s findings to the Departments and called for thorough investigations into Tether\u2019s anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance practices.\n\nIn a letter to Bessent, Blumenthal raised concerns about the Trump Administration\u2019s lax oversight of cryptocurrency firms despite longstanding research and reporting on Tether\u2019s broader role in illicit finance, \u201cYet, since President Trump\u2019s return to the White House, investigations and enforcement actions into the cryptocurrency industry have been dropped, settled on meager terms, or even reversed. I fear this lenient self-dealing includes Tether, despite its role in propping up a country that the United States is currently at war with.\u201d\n\nBlumenthal continued, \u201cWhile Tether has become a powerful tool for foreign adversaries, terrorists, and illicit actors that are a danger to our national security, it has numerous close ties to the highest levels of the Trump Administration. Most prominently, Cantor Fitzgerald\u2014which until recently was run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and is now controlled by his children\u2014owns 5% of Tether and holds a substantial portion of the company\u2019s more than $100 billion of assets in the United States.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe prospect of such a financial weapon being used against American interests is deeply troubling. I therefore request that Treasury review the Subcommittee\u2019s report, which is enclosed with this letter, and conduct a thorough investigation of Tether\u2019s anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance practices. If your investigation finds Tether has violated the Bank Secrecy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or any other relevant provision of federal law, I encourage you to take the strongest appropriate action,\u201d Blumenthal concluded.\n\nThe full text of PSI\u2019s report is available here. Copies of Blumenthal\u2019s letters to Bessent and Blanche are available here and here.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-releases-psi-report-detailing-how-lutnick-linked-crypto-firm-tether-props-up-irans-shadow-banking-system"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.913066953420639, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}