U.S. prosecutors seize $84 million from Montana firm Capstone

U.S. federal prosecutors have moved to seize approximately $84.2 million tied to Capstone, a Montana-based payments company, through a civil forfeiture complaint. Prosecutors allege that Capstone operated as an unlicensed money transmitter across at least six states while misrepresenting itself to banking partners, such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, as an ordinary information technology services firm.

According to court filings, Capstone processed payments for crypto-related entities through an agreement with EQIBank, a digital bank licensed in Dominica. The seized assets include roughly $79.11 million from a Wells Fargo account, $1.86 million from a second Wells Fargo account, $2.06 million at JPMorgan Chase, and approximately $1.1 million in USDT. Prosecutors further allege that Capstone engaged in a scheme to defraud victims by impersonating FBI agents and converting the proceeds into cryptocurrency.

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, confirmed it was a customer of EQIBank but stated it had no knowledge of Capstone’s alleged fraudulent activities. Tether noted that its exposure to the matter is minimal, representing less than 0.034% of the group’s total assets.