Cantor Fitzgerald faces Senate Democrat’s probe over Tether ties and Howard Lutnick family payments

Senator Richard Blumenthal is pressing Cantor Fitzgerald for records on its partnership with Tether, including compliance monitoring, communications with Howard Lutnick, and how much the Lutnick family has earned from the arrangement. For high-risk payment firms, the detail that matters is not just the political noise: Cantor’s role as custodian for Tether’s reserves and its reported stake in the issuer put bank, stablecoin, and sanctions exposure in the same file.

1. In a letter sent on Thursday, Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, asked Cantor chairman Brandon Lutnick to explain how the firm monitors Tether’s compliance with banking and sanctions laws. He also requested all communications involving Howard Lutnick about Tether, including after he left Cantor.
2. Blumenthal’s inquiry is aimed at Cantor Fitzgerald’s partnership with Tether, which began in 2021 when Cantor started acting as custodian for a portion of the US Treasuries backing Tether’s reserves. Cantor acquired rights to a 5% stake in Tether in 2024 and reportedly custodies tens of billions of Tether’s US Treasury bill reserves.
3. The senator alleges that Cantor’s stake in Tether rose in estimated value from $600 million to $10 billion since Trump returned to office, and that Howard Lutnick received more than $250 million in that period, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor Fitzgerald. He is also seeking the terms of Lutnick’s divestiture from Cantor and details of any other loan or financing Tether provided to Lutnick or his family to facilitate the transfer of ownership to his children.
4. The letter follows a report by Democratic investigators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations last month alleging that Tether’s USDt (USDT) has become a key tool for Iran’s shadow banking network. Blumenthal called on the US Treasury and Justice Department to investigate potential sanction violations.
5. Tether said it has been working with law enforcement for years and has frozen nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year. Blumenthal, meanwhile, wrote that “just as Tether has made untold millions in interest and investments from the stablecoins used in these illicit activities, so has Cantor Fitzgerald profited from its relationship with Tether.”

Howard Lutnick oversaw Cantor as chairman and CEO before stepping down after the Senate confirmed him as commerce secretary in February 2025. The firm then named his son Brandon chairman and his other son vice chairman. Cointelegraph said it reached out to Cantor Fitzgerald and Tether but did not receive an immediate response.