U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has added another Tether probe to the many irons he has in crypto fires, this time demanding answers about reported payments the company made to a firm owned by Bo Hines — the former White House crypto adviser who is now in charge of the U.S. arm of Tether.

Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters Thursday to Tether and to the consulting company Hines started with his father and another partner, Nxum Group.

"The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business," Blumenthal wrote to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Nxum had received large payments for consulting work for Tether when Hines was still advising President Donald Trump and his administration on crypto policy (including on stablecoin issuers significant to Tether). Blumenthal requested details of those business arrangements.

“Tether is aware of the allegations reported in The Wall Street Journal that form the basis of Senator Blumenthal’s letter,” the company said in a statement. “External counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing.”

CoinDesk had been first to report earlier that Hines' company — which had little track record or experience in politics — was making millions of dollars as the main campaign-advertising provider for a political action committee associated with Tether.

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