Federal prosecutors have moved to seize roughly $84.2 million in assets from Capstone Ltd., alleging the firm served as a conduit for illegal banking transfers benefiting Tether and Bitfinex. The civil forfeiture complaint, filed on July 15, targets accounts held at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan, with the bulk of the seized funds—approximately $79.11 million—located in a Wells Fargo Securities account.
The government's case focuses on a Caribbean institution named EQIBank, which prosecutors state directed Capstone to move hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of the two cryptocurrency companies. According to the complaint, Capstone acted as an intermediary enabling Tether and Bitfinex to access US banking rails.
A federal district judge in California has denied EQIBank's motion to return the seized property following the formal complaint. EQIBank asserts that the frozen assets represent roughly 80% of its total monetary holdings, placing its entire portfolio at approximately $89 million.
Tether confirmed that its exposure to EQIBank amounts to less than 0.034% of its total assets. Both Tether and sister company Bitfinex have previously faced scrutiny regarding their banking relationships, including a 2021 settlement with the New York Attorney General's office involving an $18.5 million fine and a ban on serving New York customers, without an admission of wrongdoing.
