On April 3rd, COINOTAG News reported that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated eight Tron wallet addresses linked to the Yemeni Houthi armed faction. This inclusion in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List is predicated on allegations of illicit financial operations utilizing Tether (USDT). The Treasury’s announcement identifies Sa’id al-Jamal, a high-ranking financial officer with ties to Iran, as orchestrating activities that involve acquiring Russian weaponry, pilfered Ukrainian agricultural products, and other sensitive commodities for regions under Houthi control.
Notably, al-Jamal has held the status of a globally designated terrorist since 2021. Reports indicate that these wallets, which have been operational since 2023, regularly transact in USDT, with certain transactions surpassing $1 million. This action is taken under Executive Order 13324, aimed at freezing assets of groups associated with terrorism while prohibiting U.S. individuals from engaging in any transactions. Currently, Tether has not provided a comment on the enforcement of these sanctions, although they have previously blocked over 2,100 wallet addresses, accounting for more than $1.3 billion in assets.