Thai businessmen sue Tether over $42,417,785 USDT freeze

Two Thai businessmen sued Tether in federal court over its freeze of $42,417,785 in USDT. The complaint says Tether froze the holdings on October 30, 2025, after an informal request from a U.S. government agent. The complaint says no warrant, court order, legal process, or notice to the plaintiffs accompanied the freeze. The plaintiffs were strangers to Tether and had no contract or other relationship with the company. Tether targeted the plaintiffs' Ethereum addresses through its blacklist capability. A seizure warrant came on February 19, 2026. The warrant sought to destroy the frozen USDT and reissue it to a government wallet. The filing argues that Tether lacks legal possession or control of the assets. The filing also argues that Tether has no authority to maintain the freeze. The freeze continued nine months later while Tether profited from retaining reserves tied to the tokens. A technical analysis says Tether controls an on-chain blacklist through its addBlackList function. The analysis says Tether can freeze assets without a court order while an investigation continues. The plaintiff seeks restitution and disgorgement of interest, yield, income, profits, and other benefits derived from reserves attributable to the frozen USDT. The plaintiff also asks the court to impose a constructive trust over those amounts.