The US Department of Justice is seeking to forfeit roughly $84.2 million linked to Capstone Ltd., a Montana-based payment processor accused of operating as an unlicensed money transmitter while presenting itself to banks as an IT services company. Prosecutors say Capstone moved more than $700 million through a Wells Fargo account, with nearly two-thirds sent to hundreds of individuals and entities on behalf of Tether and Bitfinex, mostly outside the United States. The seized funds included $79.11 million from a Wells Fargo Securities account, $2.06 million at JPMorgan Chase, $1.86 million in another Wells Fargo account and just over $1.1 million in two wallets holding USDT. Capstone was connected to Tether and Bitfinex through EQIBank, a Dominica-licensed digital bank that directed the payment activity and warned that losing the funds, representing about 80% of its holdings, could lead to institutional liquidation. Tether and Bitfinex acknowledged using EQIBank but denied knowledge of alleged wrongdoing, including the conversion of money stolen through elder-impersonation fraud into stablecoins. Tether's exposure represents less than 0.034% of its assets, which totaled $187.75 billion at the end of the second quarter. The case highlights the continued difficulty crypto companies face obtaining direct banking access and follows Tether's May lawsuit in Brazil over a defaulted $300 million loan made by its venture arm.