Senators Probe Lutnick Over Tether Loan to Trust

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden sent a letter on April 29 asking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick whether a loan from Tether to a trust that benefits his children helped finance his October 2025 sale of Cantor Fitzgerald shares.

The senators cited recent reporting that the trust which borrowed from Tether holds more than half of Cantor Fitzgerald’s equity and that the loan was secured by “all assets” in the trust. Their letter asks whether the Tether loan financed the purchase of Lutnick’s Cantor shares and whether Lutnick played any part in procuring, soliciting or negotiating the loan.

The letter requests the size and terms of the loan, whether any interest in the trust’s assets was granted to Tether as part of the arrangement, and whether Lutnick or anyone acting on his behalf had contact with Tether or its executives after he became Commerce Secretary in February 2025.

Lutnick was the longtime chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. He agreed to divest his holdings when he joined the Commerce Department and completed that divestiture in October 2025. Cantor Fitzgerald manages large holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds that have been reported as part of the reserve backing for Tether’s USDT stablecoin.

Lutnick previously publicly defended Tether. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2024 he said, “There’s a company that I like called Tether. From what we’ve seen, and we did a lot of work, they have the money they say they have.”

The senators wrote that, if the reports are accurate, the loan would raise “serious questions about your relationship with Tether and the company’s influence on your policy decisions.” They added, “We want to ensure that Tether has not sought to bribe or otherwise exert control or influence over you.” The letter seeks factual answers to determine whether the reported transaction created any financial ties that could present a conflict of interest for the Commerce Secretary.

Tether is the largest stablecoin issuer and has faced scrutiny over whether its USDT tokens are fully backed by high-quality reserve assets. Tether and the Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment.