According to the Wall Street Journal, Tether reportedly falsified documents which were provided to its banking partners. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is also apparently investigating the stablecoin company for bank fraud. In a Whalepool call shortly after Wells Fargo cut them off in 2017, Phil Potter, then CSO of both Bitfinex and Tether, described how much back and forth there is in this entire ordeal. He mentioned that when they discovered they were dealing with Bitcoin, their correspondent banks would often refuse to respond. Stephen Moore, one of the reported shareholders for Tether Holdings Limited, was allegedly responsible for signing a series of fake invoices and contracts which were utilized to conceal the fact that these were Tether deposits and withdrawals. He reportedly did not want to argue any of this in a potential fraud or money laundering case. Additionally, following this conversation, one essential Tether trader and shareholder based in China, Zhao Dong of RenrenBit, was found to be guilty of money laundering in the country. Furthermore, previous reporting has also revealed that around the same time, Stuart Hoegner, General Counsel for Bitfinex and Tether, had Tether funds in his Bank of Montreal account. According to previous DoJ comments, the exchanges involved were completely cooperative.
