SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal prosecutors have frozen about $84 million in accounts tied to a Montana payments company they allege moved money without a license and misrepresented its business to U.S. banks.
In a civil forfeiture complaint filed in the Eastern District of California, the Justice Department alleges Capstone moved money at the direction of EQIBank, a bank based in Dominica, according to the FT. Prosecutors also said Capstone may have handled payments for two cryptocurrency companies that the complaint does not name. The FT identified them as stablecoin issuer Tether and its affiliated exchange, Bitfinex, citing people familiar with the matter.
The FBI executed a search warrant at the Sacramento home of Kotaro Shimogori and Mary Jeanne Thompson, whom the FT described as Capstone’s owners or controlling persons.
Tether and Bitfinex told the FT they had “no knowledge of the fraudulent conduct by Capstone alleged by the DoJ” and said their assets held at EQIBank were limited. The allegations are part of a civil case and have not been established by a court.
