by John Smith 
US judge confirms further investigations on Bitfinex and Tether (USDT).
The iFinex group is having minor legal difficulties with the New York Attorney General being determined to go after Bitfinex and Tether (USDT).
The parent company Bitfinex and its directors have therefore brought the case before the Supreme Court of the State to try to defend themselves.
At the end of July, the New York Supreme Court had initially postponed its decision on the question of jurisdiction, but all seemed to think that the investigation was not going to stop there given the importance of the subject.
Tether (USDT) represents 4 billion dollars in the cryptocurrency market!
A dump for Tether (USDT) would bring down the crypto market and especially the price of Bitcoin.
80% of Bitcoin trading is supposely done in Tether (USDT) because most crypto exchanges like Binance do not have real currencies like the Euro or the Dollar.
The USDT Tether thus acts as a Dollar and a stable currency in the crypto markets.
1 Tether USDT is supposed to be worth $1.
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether
Explanations.
It’s all about juridiction.
Bitfinex was trying to make it clear that the New York grievances did not need to be: according to their lawyers, on the one hand the activities of the company would not have anything illegal, but in addition the actions of the company would not in any case not fall under the jurisdiction of New York.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, for her part, applied to explain that her services were in their right in this case by acting under the guise of the Martin Act – intended to fight against fraud involving securities.
As far as the question of jurisdiction is concerned, there is no doubt in her view that the matter was her responsibility, in a non-negotiable manner.
After listening to both parties in the case, the time for the decision finally arrived for New York Supreme Court Judge Joel M. Cohen:
In a court order filed on August 19, New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel M. Cohen dismissed a motion by iFinex to toss the suit due to the matter being outside of the NYAG’s jurisdiction.
As a result, the group will have to provide all the documents that the Attorney General of New York asked them a few months ago, not to destroy anything, and the investigation into the fraud charge in the case linking Bitfinex to Crypto Capital will continue.
The case is therefore far from over.
On the one hand, because the New York Attorney General’s services are continuing their investigation, but also because iFinex had warned not to be the type to let themselves go.
In a letter sent to Mr. Cohen at the end of July, the group’s legal representatives said they would appeal if they lost. Case to follow.
This news comes to fuel the rumors that Tether might fall if a court decision was damaging for Bitfinex and Tether (USDT).
The consequences of a conviction are still unclear and the future will tell what Bitfinex risk at the end of this investigation.
The scope of action of the American authorities should not be neglected when it comes to defending American interests around the world.
The crypto exchange BTC-e had been closed by the American authorities on suspicion of fraud, money laundering, etc…
A case to follow therefore, what we can recommend to do is to perhaps rather use other stable coins equivalent to Tether (USDT) like the TrueUSD (TUSD) stable coin for example if Tether was to fall.
There are other Tokens equivalent to Tether, it depends on crypto exchanges.
Tether has posted an answer to the judge’s decision on Tether.io:
“Statement in response to Justice Joel M. Cohen’s order
Any assertion that we have misled our customers about Tether (USDt), its backing, or about the negotiated transaction between Bitfinex and Tether is false. We remain committed, as ever, to protecting our customers, our business, and our community against the Attorney General’s meritless claims.”
To be continued.
