Tether’s bank partner Britannia sued over $1B deposit: Report
Tether’s bank partner Britannia Financial is reportedly facing a lawsuit over claims it failed to pay the full price of revenue-generating assets allegedly related to a large deposit from Tether.
Arbitral International, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, has sued Britannia over a $1 billion deposit from Tether, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 21, citing court documents filed in the High Court of Justice in London in 2023.
The lawsuit relates to Britannia’s acquisition of Arbitral’s Bahamas-based brokerage business known as Arbitral Securities. Britannia announced the acquisition in October 2021, integrating the brokerage into its own brokerage, Britannia Securities.
According to the new report, Britannia and Arbitral agreed that Britannia Financial would pay an extra sum based on the number of revenue-generating assets the Arbitral Securities held a year after the sale. The agreement reportedly stipulated this would include the clients originally introduced by Arbitral or related parties.
Citing the court filings, the report said that Tether opened an account with a subsidiary of Britannia Financial in November 2021.
Britannia Financial was reportedly introduced to Tether by Aldo Mazzella, who is described as a “professional introducer” and someone believed to have had a commercial relationship with Tether since around 2017. On the other hand, Arbitral argued that an executive at Arbitral Securities also played a role in the Britannia-Tether partnership.
The news comes a few months after Bloomberg reported that Tether added Britannia Bank and Trust as a Bahamas-based private bank to process dollar transfers on its platform. Other banking partners reportedly included Deltec Bank and Capital Union Bank.
Tether chief technology officer and new CEO Paolo Ardoino reportedly previously claimed that the stablecoin firm had strong relations with more than seven banks.
Tether and Britannia Financial did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Related: Tether freezes $225M in USDT linked to romance scammers amid DOJ investigation
Tether’s (USDT) stablecoin has been steadily gaining momentum on the market and inching toward a $90 billion market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko. On Nov. 20, USDT’s value hit another new high at $88 billion, up 33% since the beginning of 2023.
According to Tether, USDT added more than $20 billion to its market cap in 2023 due to two key factors, including continued market excitement around the possible approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Tether’s record-breaking growth has also been fuelled by growing demand in emerging markets like Brazil, according to the firm.
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Politics
Rishi Sunak suggests more tax cuts are on the way – but refuses to commit to triple lock manifesto pledge
Rishi Sunak has suggested more tax cuts are on the way because the economy has “turned a corner”.
The prime minister told reporters that while he would not comment on specifics, trimming taxes was “the direction of travel from this government”.
But it came as he refused to say if the pensions triple lock would be in the next Conservative Party manifesto – despite Downing Street insisting in September that it was “committed” to the policy.
Mr Sunak’s comments echo similar remarks by his ministers in recent weeks.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also said last month that the economy had “turned a corner” just before he unveiled a cut to National Insurance in the Autumn Statement.
However, four million people could also end up paying higher taxes if their wages rise after the government decided to continue the freeze on tax thresholds.
Reports suggest the Conservatives are considering additional cuts in 2024 as the party tries to woo voters and reduce Labour’s 20-point lead in opinion polls ahead of the next general election, which must take place by January 28 2025.
Cuts to stamp duty and inheritance tax are among the options reportedly being looked at by ministers.
When asked about the two policies, Mr Sunak said: “I would never comment on specific taxes. But what I will just say, though, is we have turned a corner.
“We have got inflation down, as I said we would, we have grown the economy and we are now focused on controlling spending and controlling welfare so we can cut taxes. So when we can do more, we will.”
He added: “We want to grow the economy, we want to reward people’s hard work and aspirations and cut their taxes responsibly. That is the direction of travel from this government.
“If you want controlled public spending, controlled welfare and your taxes cut, then vote Conservative.”
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Mr Sunak was unable to make similar promises about the triple lock, which ensures the state pension must rise every April by whichever is highest out of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
The policy has come under fire in recent months by critics who claim it has become too expensive and gives the government less financial “headroom” to deal with economic shocks.
Some senior Tories have called for it to be scrapped and Labour has refused to guarantee the triple lock will remain in place if it wins the next election.
While the government continued with the policy in its recent Autumn Statement, ensuring the state pension will rise by 8.5% in April 2024 to £221.20 a week, Mr Sunak refused to be drawn when asked directly if it would be in the next Tory manifesto.
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Analysis: Autumn Statement 2023
Speaking to journalists as he flew between the UK and Dubai for the COP28 summit, he replied: “[I’m] definitely not going to start writing the manifesto on the plane, as fun as that would be.”
Mr Sunak acknowledged there had been “some scepticism” about if policy was going to form part of the Autumn Statement, but said its inclusion had been “a signal of our commitment to look after our pensioners who have put a lot into our country”.
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Politics
NHS will remain free at point of use ‘as long as I’m alive’, new health secretary Victoria Atkins vows
The new health secretary has promised the NHS will remain free at the point of use as long as she is “alive” as the service gears up for another difficult winter.
Victoria Atkins, who replaced Steve Barclay in Rishi Sunak’s most recent reshuffle, made the commitment while discussing the “unique” pressures the NHS faces every year.
“We have 11 million inpatients a year so the scale of the NHS is unique around the world,” she told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
“It is also unique because of the very fact that our care is free at the point of use. And that will continue for as long as I’m alive.”
Her commitment came as the NHS continues to suffer acute pressures, including a waiting list of an estimated 6.5 million people at the end of September and a high number of staff vacancies.
The difficulties facing the NHS has generated questions about its future, with the British Social Attitudes survey finding that the British public is the unhappiest it has ever been with the health service – but that it still supports it in principle.
Ms Atkins admitted there would be a “winter crisis” in the health service over the coming weeks and months as temperatures drop and people contract more illnesses.
She said the government had started preparing for the winter with an urgent and emergency care plan and that, having met its target to recruit 50,000 more nurses, it was “beginning to meet” the target of 5,000 more beds in hospital in a bid to cut delays.
File pic
Asked about the fact that three coroners had written to her to warn that ambulance delays were already causing unnecessary deaths, Ms Atkins said she was “very concerned” but that 800 new ambulances would be brought into the service.
She also claimed that category two ambulance times – which cover urgent calls for problems including strokes, and demand a response time of 18 minutes – had already improved.
Sir Trevor read out statistics from NHS England which showed that in 2014, the total number of people who had to wait 12 hours for hospital admission after a decision had been taken to admit them was 489.
In October this year, the average number of people who had to wait over 12 hours stood at 1,440 – nearly three times as many, he said.
Asked what she would do to solve the problem, Ms Atkins said hospital discharge was key.
“What we are doing to address this is almost looking at the end rather than the beginning, because if we can move people out of the system more quickly, then the flow through the hospitals is much smoother and quicker.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ms Atkins was asked about how the NHS would fill 121,000 vacancies if the UK looks to cut immigration, with statistics showing that in June this year 265,000 people in its workforce came from abroad.
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Ms Atkins said that while those from overseas who worked in the NHS were “incredibly important to the system”, “immigration as a whole is too high”.
Last week, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that net migration hit a record high of 745,000 in 2022 – revised up from a previous estimate of 606,000.
Ms Atkins said the government’s long-term workforce plan will see more nurses and doctors in the UK trained and retained in the system.
“We are working across government to tackle immigration because we understand it’s of great concern, but we can do this in a way that protects the NHS,” she added.
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