U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald who manages Tether’s U.S. finances, was questioned by Senate Democrats over reports that a trust linked to his children received a loan from Tether intended to help finance Lutnick’s sale of his stake in the company to his children.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and Ron Wyden, who is the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, asked the world’s leading stablecoin issuer whether it helped fund Lutnick’s multibillion-dollar transfer from the financial services company through trusts linked to his adult children when Lutnick complied with government ethics requirements after taking the Cabinet job.
“If reports of this loan are accurate, it would raise serious questions about Secretary Lutnick’s relationship with Tether, as well as Tether’s influence on Mr. Lutnick’s policy decisions,” the lawmakers wrote in the two letters, which responded to reports of the unspecified amount of loans that first appeared in Bloomberg News.
Congress, with help from President Donald Trump’s administration, helped pass a new law last year to govern stablecoin issuers, including Tether. CEO Ardoino was one of the front-line guests at the White House signing of this legislation, known as the GENIUS Act. Lutnick was also present at the celebration and served as a member of the President’s Digital Assets Task Force that defined and drove U.S. crypto policy.
“It is essential that you make decisions because they are in the best interests of the American public, not in the financial interests of your family or Tether,” the senators wrote to Lutnick.
Representatives for the Ministry of Commerce and Tether did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letters.
Lutnick’s Cantor is now under the supervision of his sons Brandon Lutnick, president and CEO, and Kyle Lutnick, executive vice president.
El Salvador-headquartered Tether is pursuing a U.S. strategy, with the launch of its stablecoin USAT and a U.S. arm of the company led by Bo Hines, a former crypto adviser to Trump.
Cantor is the largest donor so far to the Fellowship PAC, a relatively new political action committee that has so far spent a few million dollars supporting Republicans in various Senate, House and gubernatorial races. The spending by Fellowship, which is run by a Tether US executive, was made through a media company whose co-founders include Hines and his father.
