ABSTRACT

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter dated Thursday to Cantor Fitzgerald asking the firm to hand over records on its business relationship with Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, including how much the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has made from the arrangement. According to Decrypt, the letter is a 13-item request for information — not a subpoena — addressed to Cantor chairman Brandon Lutnick, Howard Lutnick's son, and sets an Oct. 23 response deadline. Blumenthal alleges in the letter that Cantor's 5% stake in Tether rose in estimated value from $600 million to about $10 billion since President Donald Trump returned to office, and that Howard Lutnick has made more than $250 million in that period, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor. Neither Cantor Fitzgerald nor Tether immediately responded to requests for comment from CoinDesk and Cointelegraph.

Decrypt

Senate Democrat Blumenthal requests Cantor Fitzgerald records on Tether partnership, sets Oct. 23 deadline

Oct 9, 2026, 2:46 PM

Context

Decrypt reports the letter does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law and that nothing in it is a finding of wrongdoing; it describes the minority's probe as an investigation into 'the illicit use of cryptocurrencies and the Trump Administration's self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.' According to Decrypt, the requests cover how Cantor verifies Tether's compliance with U.S. sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules, its know-your-customer policies, whether it has ever considered ending the relationship, its communications with the President's Council on Advisors on Digital Assets, and Howard Lutnick's own records from his time at Cantor, including any discussions of Tether with the White House or state and federal regulators and lobbying on Tether's behalf. The letter also asks the firm to preserve all documents, records and communications tied to its Tether relationship.

Cantor acts as a custodian for Tether, safeguarding the reserves meant to back each USDT in circulation. Cointelegraph reports Cantor acquired rights to a 5% stake in Tether in 2024 and reportedly custodies tens of billions of dollars of Tether's U.S. Treasury bill reserves, and that the relationship began in 2021 when Cantor started acting as custodian for a portion of those Treasuries. Decrypt reports Blumenthal wrote that Cantor collects tens of millions of dollars a year from the assets it holds for Tether, on top of the stake.

Howard Lutnick ran Cantor as chairman and CEO and, according to Cointelegraph, helped negotiate its investment in Tether in April 2024. He stepped down from the firm after the Senate confirmed him as Commerce Secretary in February 2025, when Cantor named his son Brandon chairman and another son vice chairman, Cointelegraph reports. Decrypt and CoinDesk both identify Brandon Lutnick as the son who took over the company's leadership; Decrypt calls him Cantor's chairman, while CoinDesk refers to him as CEO.

Blumenthal is also seeking the terms of Howard Lutnick's divestiture from Cantor and details of any Tether loan or financing provided to Lutnick or his family to facilitate the transfer of ownership to his children, according to Cointelegraph. Decrypt reports the request tracks a reported loan from Tether to a trust for Lutnick's four children, for an undisclosed amount, made around the time they bought out their father's stake in Cantor, and notes that Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden raised the matter with Lutnick and Tether in April. Decrypt adds that when assets are transferred to a trust, the people under investigation do not hold legal property over those assets.

The letter follows a report released 10 days earlier by the subcommittee's Democratic staff, titled 'Tethered to Terrorism,' which Decrypt says found that 84% of 846 crypto wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and its proxies used USDT exclusively or nearly exclusively. Decrypt reports the figure rests on two lists: 87% of the 757 wallets designated by Israel's counter-terror finance bureau transacted mostly in USDT, against 57% of the 101 designated by OFAC, the Treasury office that enforces U.S. sanctions. Tether published a statement the same day citing roughly $550 million in Iran-linked freezes this year, including $344 million in April and more than $130 million in July, and did not address the report directly, according to Decrypt. Cointelegraph reports Tether said it has worked with law enforcement for years and has frozen nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year, and that Blumenthal called on the U.S. Treasury and Justice Department to investigate potential sanctions violations.

CoinDesk notes that Blumenthal and other congressional critics of the crypto industry such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren have limited authority as members of the minority party, and that a Democratic majority next year could place them atop committees with subpoena power to compel information and testimony. CoinDesk cited prediction markets showing Democrats with a better-than-even chance of retaking the Senate — Kalshi at 61% and Polymarket at 64%, up from about 50-50 several weeks earlier — and both platforms showing the likelihood of a House majority shift at more than 90%.

All Perspectives

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (ranking Democrat, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations): Blumenthal wrote that Cantor Fitzgerald's business arrangements with Tether come at the expense of U.S. national security, and that just as Tether has made millions in interest and investments from stablecoins used in illicit activities, Cantor has profited from its relationship with Tether. He said he was writing to request information about the partnership and to learn about Cantor's practices for detecting violations of American banking and sanctions laws, citing what he called the longstanding and deeply intertwined relationship between the two firms and their substantial relationships within the Trump Administration. He noted that while Tether claims to operate out of El Salvador, the vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under Cantor's custodianship, and said the partnership would provide important insights into the industry as Congress considers how to regulate digital assets.

Tether: Tether issued a statement saying it has been working with law enforcement for years and has frozen nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year, including roughly $344 million in April and more than $130 million in July. According to Decrypt, the statement did not address the subcommittee staff report directly. Tether did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoinDesk and Cointelegraph.

Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Democratic staff: In the report 'Tethered to Terrorism,' the subcommittee's Democratic staff found that 84% of 846 crypto wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and its proxies used USDT exclusively or nearly exclusively, according to Decrypt. Decrypt reports the figure is based on two separate lists: 87% of the 757 wallets designated by Israel's counter-terror finance bureau transacted mostly in USDT, compared with 57% of the 101 designated by OFAC.

Position not represented in the source reporting: Cantor Fitzgerald and its chairman/CEO Brandon Lutnick; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Where sources differ

CoinDesk's article carries a dateline of Oct. 8, 2026, while Decrypt and Cointelegraph describe the letter as dated Thursday without specifying a comparable publication date.
Decrypt describes Brandon Lutnick as Cantor's chairman in its report, while CoinDesk refers to him as the firm's CEO; Cointelegraph also calls him chairman.
Decrypt says Blumenthal requested Howard Lutnick's own records on Tether from his time at Cantor, while Cointelegraph says the request covers all communications involving Howard Lutnick about Tether 'including after he left Cantor,' a broader scope than Decrypt describes.

Gaps & Unknowns

No source establishes whether Cantor Fitzgerald intends to comply with the Oct. 23 deadline or respond to the letter at all; both Cantor and Tether did not immediately respond to comment requests from CoinDesk and Cointelegraph.
Blumenthal's letter does not accuse Cantor of violating a specific law and is not a finding of wrongdoing, according to Decrypt; no source establishes that the allegations about the $10 billion Tether stake valuation, the $250 million-plus in Lutnick earnings, or the $192 million Cantor distribution have been independently verified.
The reported Tether loan to a trust for Howard Lutnick's four children is described as undisclosed in amount and is not confirmed by any of the sources; the terms of any loan or financing, and of Lutnick's divestiture, remain unknown.
No source establishes the status or outcome of Blumenthal's call for the Treasury Department and Justice Department to investigate potential sanctions violations, or whether those agencies have taken any action.
Howard Lutnick's own response to the allegations, and any response from the White House regarding discussions of Tether, are absent from all three sources.
No source states the full text of the 13-item request or confirms whether all items listed by Decrypt appear in the letter as described by other outlets.
The sources do not establish a publication date consistent across outlets for the letter or the articles covering it.

Sources & Further Reading

Decrypt — original — by Jose Antonio Lanz
Cointelegraph — by Cointelegraph by Felix Ng
CoinDesk — by Jesse Hamilton

Read the original at Decrypt

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