Tether and Bitfinex are so closely tied that they plagiarized each other’s press release about expected upcoming lawsuits. Both iFinex companies used Trump-esque language, calling their accusers meritless and claiming new information was based off of a bogus study.

They claim to be targeted by “mercenary” lawyers, who by definition are interested in making money and ignoring ethics.

“It is irresponsible to suggest that Tether enables illicit activity due to its efficiency, liquidity and wide-scale applicability within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

Tether & Bitfinex controversy

News of additional lawsuits came shortly after Bitfinex and Tether won a motion to halt turning over documents in the New York Supreme Court. Bitfinex had been accused of creating Tether out of nothing in April 2019 and was sued by the New York Attorney General Letita James.

The story goes that Bitfinex was processing transactions through Crypto Capital, who’s funds were seized by various governments. Since Bitfinex couldn’t get their money back, they decided to take an approximate $625 million loan from Tether. Tether continued to print their currency, even with the large deficit.

James’ office isn’t happy about the iFinex not having to turn in documents and believe that they have been stalling the entire time.

“Respondents have been crystal clear that their litigation strategy is to delay this process as long as they can, by procedural maneuvers and duplicative motion practice”

Reactions from the community

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of Alameda seemed to identify with iFinex’s defense against allegations.

“The TL;DR: USDT issuances sometimes come with BTC price increases because people create USDT to buy BTC, nothing shady required to explain that.”

Others aren’t believing the plea of innocence

“Bitfinex new tactic: attempt to preemptively discredit any person on earth who at any point might sue them”

LEO, Bitfinex’s proprietary coin felt the pain of lawsuit news, with price dropping 5% soon after the announcement.