Sen. Richard Blumenthal has given Cantor Fitzgerald until Oct. 23 to produce records on its Tether relationship and on the financial gains of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's family. The 13-item request, dated Thursday, covers the Wall Street firm's role as custodian to Tether, issuer of USDT, the world's largest dollar-pegged stablecoin.

The letter, addressed to Brandon Lutnick — the firm's chairman and Howard Lutnick's son — does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law. Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, framed the probe as an inquiry into "the illicit use of cryptocurrencies and the Trump Administration's self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms."

What is Blumenthal alleging?

The senator values Cantor's 5% Tether stake at roughly $10 billion, up from $600 million when President Donald Trump returned to office. Cantor acts as Tether's custodian, safeguarding the cash and short-dated instruments that back USDT in circulation, and collects "tens of millions of dollars a year" in fees on those assets, according to the letter.

Blumenthal said the Lutnick family has taken in more than $250 million over the same stretch, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor. The letter also flags an earlier reported loan from Tether to a trust for Howard Lutnick's four children that financed their buyout of his stake, and asks for the loan's terms.

"Disturbingly, Cantor Fitzgerald's lucrative business arrangements with Tether come at the expense of America's national security," Blumenthal wrote. "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."

What does the letter actually require?

The request asks Cantor to detail how it vets Tether against U.S. sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules. It also seeks Howard Lutnick's own records from his time running Cantor, including "any discussion of Tether with the White House or state and federal regulators, lobbying on Tether's behalf," and the firm's communications with the President's Council of Advisors on Digital Assets.

Cantor must preserve every document tied to its Tether relationship in the meantime. The deadline carries no legal force: a minority-party records request rather than a subpoena, the letter leaves compliance voluntary unless the full subcommittee votes to compel documents.

How does this connect to the Iran findings?

The letter landed 10 days after the subcommittee's Democratic staff released "Tethered to Terrorism," a report finding that 84% of 846 crypto wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and its proxies transacted exclusively or nearly exclusively in USDT. The headline figure rests on uneven bases: 87% of 757 wallets designated by Israel's counter-terror finance bureau used USDT, against 57% of 101 wallets designated by OFAC, the Treasury office that enforces U.S. sanctions.

Tether, which can freeze wallets, published a statement the same day citing roughly $550 million in Iran-linked freezes in 2025, including $344 million in April and more than $130 million in July. The statement did not address the report's findings.

What regulatory seams does the letter expose?

Blumenthal's framing hinges on the gap between Tether's claimed jurisdiction and its operational footprint. He wrote that although Tether "claims to operate out of El Salvador," the "vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under your custodianship." That formulation positions Cantor as the U.S. nexus for an offshore issuer whose compliance posture is, in effect, the custodian's own.

The request also reopens questions Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden raised in April about the Lutnick children's trust and its Tether financing. With Howard Lutnick now running the Commerce Department after his February 2025 confirmation, Blumenthal is laying the groundwork for a potential full-committee hearing should Republicans on the panel choose to take up the inquiry after Oct. 23.