According to Wu Blockchain, attorney Ariel Givner stated that two Thai businessmen have filed a lawsuit against Tether in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, involving a dispute over approximately $42.4 million USDT. The plaintiffs claim that Tether froze their wallet in October 2025 at the informal request of the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), despite there being no search warrant or court order at the time. In February 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina issued a seizure order, requiring the frozen USDT to be destroyed and reissued to a government wallet. Givner added that the funds in question may be linked to a North Carolina-based "pig-butchering" romance scam money laundering case, with law enforcement later announcing the seizure of approximately $61 million USDT. The plaintiffs did not deny the government’s allegations regarding the source of the funds but questioned whether Tether had the authority to freeze the wallet before a court order was issued, and whether the subsequent order authorized Tether to freeze, destroy, or reissue the USDT. https://(wublock123.com)/news/tether-sued-over-42-4m-usdt-freeze-linked-to-romance-scam-money-laundering-67629