DOJ Thanks Tether for Aid in $52 Million Xinbi Crypto Restraint

Tether said in a September 11, 2026 announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice had credited the stablecoin issuer’s proactive assistance in a coordinated enforcement action against Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language marketplace run on Telegram that authorities allege provided services to scam centers and organized criminal groups, in which more than $52 million in cryptocurrency was restrained in a single day.

The Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force announced the coordinated action on September 9, 2026, stating that approximately $52 million in cryptocurrency involved in scam money laundering was restrained in one day and that the restraint brought the total restrained by the Strike Force to approximately $938 million. The release stated: “The Strike Force thanks Tether for its proactive assistance in this investigation.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the actions together with federal law enforcement and interagency partners. Joining the announcement were U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael J. Heyman, FBI Criminal Division Deputy Assistant Director Matthew Floyd, U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Tara McLeese, and Lisa Palluconi, Deputy Director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Seizure Warrant and Restrained Wallets

As alleged in a seizure warrant unsealed on September 9, 2026, Xinbi is a Chinese-language illicit marketplace run on Telegram where vendors market their services to scam center operators. Vendors posted their available services on the Telegram channel, including creating custom scam investment websites, laundering money that scammers obtained from victims of wire fraud, and soliciting trafficking victims to work in scam compounds in Southeast Asia. According to the warrant, once a scammer purchased a service from a vendor, Xinbi as an organization held the money to be paid to the vendor until the vendor’s services were complete, assuring the scammers that the vendors would perform. The warrant alleged numerous instances in which U.S. victims’ funds were traced to specific vendors that advertised money laundering services on the Telegram channel and posted cryptocurrency wallets for payment.

On September 7, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia authorized seizure of the Telegram channels hosting the marketplace. Under the same warrant, the Strike Force seized two cryptocurrency wallets that Xinbi used to collect payments for vendors, which collectively held approximately $12 million, and law enforcement sought restraint of 47 additional cryptocurrency wallets believed to be associated with money laundering on Xinbi’s network and with vendors that had worked for scammers.

In a further coordinated action the same day, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization and identified numerous cryptocurrency wallets associated with it. OFAC also designated two other entities for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Xinbi. As a result, all property and interests in property of the three sanctioned entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

Madagascar Deployment and Strike Force Background

Pirro also announced that the Strike Force will expand its scope to attack scam center compounds globally, and that it had deployed a team to Madagascar to assist local law enforcement in cracking down on scam centers in that country. The team, which was in country for two weeks, supported local authorities in the takedown of 13 scam centers operated by Chinese organized crime syndicates and assisted in the processing of more than 3,200 electronic devices. According to the release, the team also opened its own investigations based on interviews of nearly 400 arrestees, at least approximately 30 of whom were Chinese leaders of the scam compounds who were repatriated to China by the Chinese government.

Pirro officially launched the Scam Center Strike Force in November 2025 to address Chinese organized crime syndicates operating scam centers primarily in Southeast Asia. The Strike Force targets cryptocurrency investment fraud, cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking, and money laundering operations. According to FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center figures cited in the release, cyber-enabled fraud schemes were responsible for almost 85% of all losses reported to IC3 in 2025, and reported losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud scams rose from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025, an increase of 89%. The release states that these figures, largely based on losses reported by victims, likely significantly under-represent the true loss amounts because most fraud victims do not report to IC3.

On March 6, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the administration to prioritize cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes draining American families of their life savings, and the release describes the Strike Force as a critical node in executing that mission. Founded by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the Strike Force includes the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations-DC, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Western Washington, and works in collaboration with the Treasury and State Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen P. Seifert for the District of Columbia directs the Strike Force. The September 9, 2026 seizures were handled by Seifert and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Blaylock Jr. of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac Caille Peturrson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, together with the FBI’s Chicago Field Office and the Secret Service’s Washington Field Office.

Tether said it has collaborated with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries, assisting in more than 2,800 cases globally, including over 1,600 involving U.S. law enforcement. According to the company, those efforts have contributed to the freezing of more than $5 billion in assets linked to illicit activity, including more than $2.5 billion in cooperation with U.S. authorities. The company cited recent cooperation with U.S. authorities involving approximately $225 million in USDT linked to an international human trafficking and romance scam syndicate, nearly $61 million in USDT connected to a large-scale cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme, and more than $344 million in USDT frozen in coordination with OFAC and U.S. law enforcement.

“By now, criminal organizations should understand that using digital assets does not put them beyond the reach of the law,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. Ardoino said the stablecoin infrastructure can give law enforcement powerful tools to identify, disrupt, and stop illicit financial activity, thanked the DOJ for its acknowledgement of Tether’s role in dismantling the crime network, and said the company will continue working with agencies around the world to stop bad actors from misusing USDT.

Tether said it continues to work directly with the DOJ, FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and other authorities around the world to combat the misuse of USDT and support the recovery of illicit assets.