Cantor Fitzgerald Tether Letter: Blumenthal Sets October 23 Deadline

The Cantor Fitzgerald Tether relationship is the target of a Senate letter dated October 8, 2026. Senator Richard Blumenthal asks the firm's chairman, Brandon Lutnick, for records under 13 requests, with answers due by October 23. The letter comes from the minority side of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where Blumenthal is ranking member. The document is a request for information and carries no legal finding about the Cantor Fitzgerald Tether business.

Page one of the Senate subcommittee letter to Cantor Fitzgerald, dated October 8, 2026.

What the Cantor Fitzgerald Tether letter asks

The request covers Cantor Fitzgerald and any affiliates, plus Tether entities including iFenix, Tether Holdings El Salvador and Tether U.S. It also names the Lutnick family members and foundation it wants covered.

The letter says the minority staff is investigating illicit use of cryptocurrencies and what it calls self-dealing by the Trump administration with crypto firms. Cantor Fitzgerald is told to preserve all records tied to Tether, going back to January 1, 2023.

Questions on the Cantor Fitzgerald Tether partnership cover when it began, how much revenue Cantor has earned from it and what the Lutnick family has earned. They also ask whether Cantor requires regular independent audits of Tether, and how it monitors Tether's compliance with US sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules.

Claims the letter makes about Tether and the Lutnick family

Several of the numbers come from the letter itself, which cites news reports. It says Cantor's 5% stake in Tether has grown from about $600 million to an estimated $10 billion since President Trump returned to office. Howard Lutnick, now Commerce Secretary, is also described as having made over $250 million in the same period, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor.

Those figures are the senator's assertions, drawn from press reports, and no document cited here confirms them. Request 7 asks about the terms under which Howard Lutnick relinquished his Cantor stake. It also asks for any Tether loan that let the family pass the stake to his children. These are questions in the letter, and the letter reaches no conclusion on them.

The Iran report behind it

A September 28 minority report, "Tethered to Terrorism: Crypto & Iran's Shadow Banking Network," drives the request. By the letter's account, the report found that actors tied to Iran and its proxies now lean mostly on Tether. Tether, the report says, failed to freeze wallets moving millions of dollars. Those findings belong to the report's authors and have not been tested in any proceeding.

CoinGecko put Tether's market value near $184.1 billion on October 9, with USDT at about $0.9993. The letter adds that Tether says it operates from El Salvador, yet most of its assets sit in the United States under Cantor's custody.

What happens next in the Cantor Fitzgerald Tether inquiry

A reply by October 23 would be voluntary, since the letter has no subpoena attached and comes from a ranking member. Blumenthal signs for the minority, so what you read here is the minority's view and not a committee finding.

Requests 10 to 13 are the broadest. They reach Howard Lutnick's own messages about Tether and Cantor's contact with the President's Council of Advisors on Digital Assets. Any answers would offer a first look at how Cantor describes its custody work for Tether. Nothing in the letter or this report alleges wrongdoing by Cantor Fitzgerald or Tether, and none of it is legal advice.