The law firm that led the Arbitrum cryptocurrency asset seizure case is now targeting Tether, seeking $344 million in damages.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. law firm Charles Gerstein has filed a petition in Manhattan federal court seeking an order for Tether to transfer over $344 million in frozen USDT to victims holding unpaid terrorism judgments against Iran. This USDT was previously frozen by Tether after the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) determined that the relevant Tron wallets belonged to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The plaintiffs argue that since OFAC has identified the wallets as belonging to the IRGC and Tether has frozen the tokens, Tether can simply reissue an equivalent amount of USDT to wallets controlled by the victims' lawyers. This case is part of a broader legal strategy by Charles Gerstein aimed at leveraging the ability of crypto platforms to freeze and transfer digital assets to enforce terrorism-related judgments. Unlike the Arbitrum case, which involved North Korean-linked hacking funds, this case clarifies ownership because OFAC has designated the wallets as belonging to the IRGC. Gerstein has previously employed similar strategies in the Arbitrum funds freeze case and the Railgun DAO case.