The Justice Department has seized bank accounts belonging to Montana-based payments business Capstone, alleging the company was unlicensed and misrepresented its business to U.S. banks, the Financial Times reported Friday (Sept. 25).
According to the report, Justice Department prosecutors in the Eastern District of California froze $84 million in Capstone funds. The action stems from a civil justice complaint filed by the Justice Department in California, which alleges that Capstone illegally moved money at the direction of Dominica-based bank EQIBank.
The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that the complaint alleges Capstone may have made payments on behalf of two unnamed cryptocurrency firms. The sources identified those firms as stablecoin issuer Tether and its affiliated exchange Bitfinex.
The full extent of the allegations and the identities of the cryptocurrency firms named in the complaint have not been officially confirmed by the Justice Department.
