Democrat Probes Trump Official's Firm Over Alleged Link to Iran-Crypto Scheme

Senator Richard Blumenthal told Michael Popok on MeidasTouch's Legal AF that his investigators have found "a major financial tie" between Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald. A report by the Democratic minority staff of his subcommittee calls the crypto company a primary channel for Iran's sanctions evasion. Cantor is the Wall Street firm Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ran until he joined the Cabinet.

Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told Popok that the panel is "doing further fact-finding into the financial ties between Lutnick and his family" and his role as Commerce Secretary. He did not accuse Lutnick of wrongdoing, and he did not describe the tie in the part of the interview reviewed for this story.

The minority staff report released Monday does. It says "Tether's primary custodial relationship for its treasuries runs through Cantor Fitzgerald," that Cantor "has a stake in Tether worth billions," and that Tether reportedly lent money to Lutnick's children so they could buy his stake in the firm when he divested.

What Blumenthal Said About Cantor Fitzgerald

"What we've also exposed is that Cantor Fitzgerald has a major financial tie," Blumenthal said. "Cantor Fitzgerald was owned by Howard Lutnick. It's still run by his family, his two sons."

He called the report "part of a continuing effort to expose corruption in this administration." He said the core problem was "the failure of this administration" to crack down on Tether: "It has the means to do so. It should have the interest in doing so, but thus far it has failed to do so in a way that's meaningful."

How Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald Are Linked

The business ties go back years. In November 2024, Fortune reported that Cantor owned about 5 percent of Tether, a stake valued at as much as $600 million. That figure comes from a different source and an earlier date than the minority staff report's description of the stake as "worth billions." Fortune also reported that holding Tether's Treasury reserves in custody earned Cantor tens of millions of dollars a year. In January 2024, while he still ran the firm, Lutnick said at Davos that Tether has the money to back its reserves.

Lutnick agreed to transfer his Cantor interest to trusts for his adult children, and the sale closed on October 6, 2025. Around the same time, according to a Bloomberg investigation published in March, a credit document filed in New York showed that Tether had lent an undisclosed amount to "Dynasty Trust A," whose beneficiaries are Lutnick's four children. The loan is reportedly secured by the trust's assets, including "more than half the equity in Cantor Fitzgerald," according to an April 29 letter to Lutnick from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden.

A Cantor spokesman told Bloomberg there were "multiple sources" of funding for the divestiture, according to the Warren-Wyden letter.

What Tether Says

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pushed back on the report itself. "USD₮ is not a haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks," he said in a statement. The company said it had supported freezing nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year.

The Iran Sanctions Findings

The minority staff examined 846 crypto wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over ties to Iran and its proxies. It found that 84 percent transacted "exclusively, or nearly exclusively" in USDT. Two sanctioned Iranian oil smugglers moved more than $603 million in USDT between 2021 and 2025, through a network connected to Hezbollah and the Houthis, the report found.

"Tether is a crypto company that has a stable coin known as USDT and it is the major means of Iran avoiding and evading sanctions," Blumenthal said, calling USDT "kind of a shadow dollar." He added that drug traffickers and human traffickers use it too.

What Happens Next

Blumenthal said he has written to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Justice Department asking them to crack down on Tether. The report says Tether confirmed receiving the subcommittee's June 4 request for documents but had not answered it when the report came out.

Whether Treasury or Justice will open the inquiries Blumenthal is asking for is still unknown.