United States District Court Judge Catherine Polk Fayla for the Southern District of New York has ordered Tether to prove 1-to-1 support for Tether (USDT). The company is required to submit “general ledgers, balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, profit and loss statements” and other documents to the court.
The order was published Tuesday as part of a case that began in 2019 — in which an initial complaint by a group of investors against parent company iFinex, Tether and Bitfinex alleged that the company manipulated the crypto market by issuing unsupported Tether with the intent of inflating the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC).
Judge Polk Faila denied iFinex’s requests to block the order on the grounds that the company had earlier submitted “sufficient enough” documents to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the New York Attorney General. It found that the plaintiffs’ demand for “undoubtedly significant” documents was well established because they “appear to go to one of the plaintiffs’ primary claims”.
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Previously, in September 2021, Judge Polk Faila dismissed plaintiffs’ claims against iFinex under the Racketeer Influential and Corrupt Organizations Act and allegations of extortion or the use of extortion proceeds for investments.
In February 2021, in another case settled with the New York Attorney General’s Office, iFinex agreed to pay $18.5 million in damages to New York and periodically report on its reserves as well as stop service to customers in the state. The settlement came after a 22-month investigation into whether the company was trying to cover up its losses – described as $850 million – by misrepresenting the degree to which its USDT reserves were backed by fiat guarantees.
