Victims of Iran Attacks Seek Court Order for $344 Million Frozen USDT from Tether
A group of U.S. terrorism victims has filed a legal motion to seize $344 million in frozen USDT. The stablecoin is currently held in Tether wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Motion Details
The plaintiffs asked a Manhattan federal judge to compel Tether to zero out two OFAC-blocked wallet addresses holding 344,149,759 USDT and reissue the equivalent amount to the victims.
The motion, filed on May 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, aims to enforce approximately $2.42 billion in unpaid terrorism judgments against Iran.
Legal Arguments
The filing states that Tether has both the technical ability and legal duty to transfer the frozen funds. It highlights previous cases where Tether complied with U.S. seizure orders by burning tokens and reissuing USDT to law enforcement wallets.
Tether froze the wallets on April 24, 2026 the same day OFAC added them to its sanctions list. The plaintiffs argue the court has jurisdiction over Tether because the company manages most of its reserves in New York through Cantor Fitzgerald.
Background
The victims hold judgments totaling roughly $552 million in compensatory damages and $1.86 billion in punitive damages from multiple U.S. terrorism-related cases spanning two decades.
They are not targeting Tether’s own assets only the Iranian-linked property held in Tether’s custody.
