DOJ seizes $40,300 in USDT from Trump‑Vance inaugural scam, credits Tether for aiding the recovery and seizure.
A complaint from US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro says that federal officials took $40,300 in cryptocurrency that was found in a scam email that claimed to be from the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a news release on Wednesday that the scam got a donor to send $250,300 worth of USDt stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain to con artists pretending to be committee members.
They sent an email on December 24, 2024, that looked like it came from Steve Witkoff, who is co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee. The fake email used the address @t47lnaugural.com to trick people and changed a lowercase “l” to an “i.”
The victim thought the request was honest, so two days later, they sent the money to a cryptocurrency wallet that the scammers owned. The stolen money was quickly cleaned out of several coin wallets.
The FBI gets back $40,000 that was stolen.
The FBI could track down and collect $40,300 worth of stolen USDT by analyzing the blockchain. Through a civil forfeiture case, the prosecutors are now trying to get these things back to the victim.
Asst. Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Steven Jensen said, “Impersonation scams come in many forms and cost Americans billions of dollars yearly.”
He said people should check the email names of those who send them emails and never send crypto to people they don’t know.
“Scammers often use subtle differences to deceive you and gain your trust. Never send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to people you do not know personally or have only interacted with online or over the phone.”
In May 2024, Donald Trump said that his campaign for president would accept payments in cryptocurrency through Coinbase Commerce.
He created a real page to raise money that accepted Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, XRP, USDC, Solana, and other cryptocurrencies.
The DOJ says that Tether helped.
The DOJ said that Tether helped them get the stolen money back. The company helped the police freeze funds and move them to other people.
In June, the federal agency also said that Tether helped recover about $225 million in USDT that was linked to a massive scam called “pig butchering” that tricked people in many countries.
In May, the DOJ filed a civil forfeiture case against Russian citizen Rustam Gallyamov to seize $24 million in cryptocurrency. Gallyamov was suspected of making the Qakbot malware.
