Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of North Carolina announced the seizure of more than $61 million in Tether (USDT) linked to a romance‑style “pig‑butchering” fraud. Homeland Security Investigations traced wallets used to launder proceeds to fake trading platforms and coordinated with Tether to freeze and transfer the stablecoin balances.

Federal law enforcement announced one of the largest single stablecoin forfeitures tied to romance/investment crypto fraud after seizing over $61 million in USDT. According to filings and a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Homeland Security Investigations traced on‑chain flows from wallets used by operators of a pig‑butchering scheme that cultivated romantic trust, persuaded victims to deposit funds on sham trading platforms, and then laundered proceeds through multiple crypto wallets. Tether Ltd. cooperated with authorities to freeze the relevant stablecoin balances and facilitate forfeiture, a step prosecutors said was critical to disrupting the fraudsters’ ability to deploy stolen funds. The action underscores investigators’ growing use of blockchain analytics and international cooperation to follow crypto rails, identify laundering networks, and recover assets for victims. Prosecutors signaled this seizure is part of broader efforts to dismantle transnational pig‑butchering operations that combine social‑engineering with on‑chain obfuscation tactics.