The SDNY Filing

Swan Bitcoin has filed an ex parte application in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) seeking court authorization to subpoena Cantor Fitzgerald and its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, under 28 U.S.C. Section 1782. The discovery would support foreign proceedings against the Tether-appointed directors of Swan's former joint mining venture, 2040 Energy.

The targets: Tether Chairman and controlling shareholder Giancarlo Devasini and Bitfinex CEO JL van der Velde, both of whom were appointed as directors of 2040 Energy.

The Alleged Conspiracy

According to the filing, in mid-2024 a group of Swan's own employees, led by then-Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Raphael Zagury and working with Tether's now-CIO Zachary Lyons, secretly conspired to gut the joint venture from the inside. Planning notes found on Swan's corporate servers allegedly laid out a coordinated mass resignation to be executed with 'legal cover from Tether,' referencing 'Giancarlo side conversations' and declaring that 'rain and hell fire needs to start.'

On August 8, 2024, thirteen Swan employees resigned within hours, according to the filing. Thousands of confidential documents were allegedly downloaded from Swan's systems. Swan claims Tether replaced it within days with Proton, a new entity run by the same defecting employees and contractors. By December 2024, the Tether-appointed directors had approved a related-party sale of 2040 Energy's mining assets to a Tether subsidiary at what Swan alleges was a significant undervalue.

Zagury and Lyons now serve as Tether-appointed directors at public company Twenty One Capital ($XXI), majority-owned and controlled by Tether and fronted by Jack Mallers, according to Swan CEO Cory Klippsten's thread on X.

The Cantor Connection

The filing targets Cantor Fitzgerald and Lutnick because of their alleged proximity to these events. In the weeks before the mass resignations, Devasini introduced Swan CEO Cory Klippsten to Lutnick to discuss a planned Swan initial public offering (IPO). Swan subsequently shared confidential mining data and IPO materials with Cantor. After the resignations and asset diversion, Cantor broke off contact without explanation.

Cantor later served as investment banker on several Tether-related transactions, including acting as placement agent for Tether's investment in Rumble and providing a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) for Twenty One Capital. A public Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filing from October 2025 shows Tether as collateral agent for all assets of Dynasty Trust A, the Lutnick family trust and majority owner of Cantor. Bloomberg reported that Dynasty Trust A borrowed an undisclosed sum from Tether to finance its acquisition of Lutnick's ownership stake.

An independent Edison Group report noted that Tether sold Northern Data's mining subsidiary to Devasini-directed entities at a '50%' discount compared to precedent transactions, as part of the lead-up to selling Northern Data to Rumble.

The filing also surfaces Klippsten's contemporaneous notes from conversations with Devasini, in which Tether's chairman allegedly told Swan's CEO that Lutnick had claimed to have 'managed to kill every bill about stablecoins' in Congress and was 'working full time for Tether.'

Why It Matters

This saga has been burning for nearly two years and shows no signs of resolution. What started as a mining partnership dispute between Swan and Tether has grown into something far larger, now pulling in the sitting U.S. Commerce Secretary and one of Wall Street's oldest names.

For Bitcoiners, the story is a reminder that corporate partnerships in this industry carry unique counterparty risk. When billions are on the line and the players are as connected as Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald, joint ventures can unravel with the precision of a hostile takeover. The allegations in this filing, if substantiated, paint a picture of one of Bitcoin's largest corporate entities using its financial power to strip assets from a partner and install loyalists in the resulting shell.

Partnerships are only as strong as the incentives that hold them together. When those incentives diverge, the wreckage can take years to sort through. This case will test whether the legal system can untangle a web of Tether-connected transactions, political ties, and offshore entity structures. It is messy, it is personal, and it is far from over.