According to CoinMeta, Tether faced legal action in court due to the freezing of $42.4 million in USDT. Thai businessmen Nutthawat Rukthammachalern and Natthawat Kasamvilas filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, claiming that Tether blacklisted their Ethereum wallets without court authorization. The complaint states that in October 2025, Tether restricted ten Ethereum addresses that held a total of 42,417,785.62 USDT. The businessmen claimed that the freeze was based on an informal request from an agent of the National Security Investigation Bureau (HSI) and they were not notified prior to losing access to their funds. The lawsuit also alleges that Tether took action without a court order. This freeze is related to a fraud investigation in North Carolina, where investigators claim that the stolen USDT funds were transferred through multiple wallets to conceal their origin. Although the businessmen acknowledge that the disputed funds are related to fraud earnings, their lawsuit challenges Tether's authority to restrict the secondary market USDT without judicial authorization.