The law firm that once led the Arbitrum cryptocurrency asset seizure case is now targeting Tether, claiming $344 million in damages

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. law firm Charles Gerstein has filed a petition in the Manhattan federal court, requesting an order for Tether to transfer over $344 million of frozen USDT to victims holding judgments against Iran for unpaid terrorism claims. These USDT were previously frozen by Tether after the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control identified the related Tron wallets as belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.

The plaintiffs argue that since OFAC has designated the relevant wallets as owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Tether has frozen the related tokens, Tether can fully reissue an equivalent amount of USDT to a wallet controlled by the victims' attorney. This case is part of a broader legal strategy by Charles Gerstein aimed at leveraging the ability of crypto platforms to freeze and transfer digital assets to enforce terrorism-related judgments. Unlike the Arbitrum case involving North Korean-linked hacker funds, in this case, OFAC has clearly designated the relevant wallets as owned