- Thai entrepreneurs Nuttawat Rukhammaichalern and Nattawat Kasamvilas have sued Tether in federal court in New York over the freezing of about 42.4 million USDT.
- The plaintiffs allege Tether blacklisted 10 Ethereum addresses on Oct. 30, 2025, before authorities obtained an asset seizure warrant on Feb. 19, 2026.
- They are seeking to unfreeze the addresses, prevent the destruction of the tokens and recover potential damages and income they allege Tether may have earned from reserves backing the assets.
Thai entrepreneurs Nuttawat Rukhammaichalern and Nattawat Kasamvilas have filed a lawsuit against Tether in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the freezing of about 42.4 million USDT. They allege Tether blacklisted the assets on Oct. 30, 2025, without a warrant or other formal legal order, months before U.S. authorities obtained an asset seizure warrant on Feb. 19, 2026.
Plaintiffs challenge USDT freeze
According to the complaint, Tether blacklisted 10 addresses on the Ethereum network holding a combined 42,417,785.62 USDT. The plaintiffs said the company acted after an informal request from a representative of the Homeland Security Investigations unit.
The lawsuit alleges that authorities had not obtained a warrant, court order or subpoena when Tether imposed the freeze.
The plaintiffs said they acquired the stablecoins through secondary-market transactions and had no direct contractual relationship with Tether. They argue that the issuer’s technical ability to freeze USDT at the smart-contract level does not by itself give the company the right to control assets held by third parties.
U.S. authorities later obtained the asset seizure warrant on Feb. 19, 2026. According to the lawsuit materials, the warrant called for the destruction of the frozen USDT, the issuance of an equivalent number of tokens and their transfer to a government-controlled wallet.
Plaintiffs seek to prevent token destruction
The plaintiffs said the disputed 42.4 million USDT remained frozen when they filed the lawsuit. They are seeking to lift the restrictions on the addresses, prevent the tokens’ destruction, recover potential damages and reclaim income that they allege Tether may have earned from reserves backing the frozen assets.
Tether had not publicly responded to the lawsuit as of publication. The court had not ruled on ownership of the assets or Tether’s liability.
Tether has previously frozen large amounts of USDT as part of its cooperation with law enforcement. In one month in 2026, the company froze more than $514 million across 370 addresses on the Ethereum and TRON networks.
Source: Incrypted
