Swan Bitcoin Subpoenas US Commerce Secretary & Cantor Fitzgerald – Major Crypto Legal Battle Escalates

Swan Bitcoin has escalated its high-stakes legal fight by seeking court permission to subpoena both Cantor Fitzgerald and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the firm's former CEO. The widening dispute now implicates crypto giant Tether and alleges coordinated misconduct in a joint Bitcoin mining venture, signaling a dramatic clash between institutional crypto firms and traditional finance power players.

Swan Bitcoin Alleges Conspiracy 

The Bitcoin firm says it filed an ex parte application this week in the Southern District of New York to seek discovery that it intends to use in foreign proceedings against Tether-appointed directors of its joint venture, 2040 Energy. 

Swan CEO Cory Klippsten identified the targets of those foreign actions as Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, controlling shareholder Giancarlo Devasini, and Bitfinex CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde.

In its filing, Swan describes a series of events in mid-2024, when it says a group of the firm’s employees led by then‑CIO Raphael Zagury conspired with Tether personnel — including Tether’s now‑CIO Zachary Lyons — to undermine the joint venture from within. 

According to the complaint, Swan’s internal planning notes, recovered from corporate servers, outlined a coordinated mass resignation that would be cloaked with “legal cover from Tether.” 

Swan alleges that on Aug. 8, 2024, thirteen employees resigned within hours, and that “thousands” of confidential documents were downloaded from the company’s systems. 

The filing contends that those defectors quickly formed Proton — an entity Swan says was effectively a Tether replacement for the joint venture and was run by the same departing employees and contractors. 

In December 2024, the complaint alleges, the Tether-appointed directors approved a related‑party sale of 2040 Energy’s mining assets to a Tether subsidiary at a significantly undervalued price.

Allegations Against US Secretary Of Commerce 

Cantor Fitzgerald and Lutnick figure in Swan Bitcoin’s application because, the filing says, they were closely linked to developments before and after the resignations. 

Swan Bitcoin recounts that Devasini introduced Klippsten to Lutnick in the weeks before the mass departures to discuss a prospective Swan Bitcoin initial public offering (IPO). 

Swan shared confidential mining data and IPO materials with Cantor at that time, the filing says, and then, after the rapid resignations and alleged asset diversion, Cantor “unexpectedly” ceased contact without explanation. 

Klippsten’s contemporaneous notes, which Swan Bitcoin has included in its filing, also record conversations with Devasini in which Devasini allegedly told Klippsten that Lutnick — while still a private citizen — claimed to have “managed to kill every bill about stablecoins” in Congress and was “working full time for Tether.” 

Swan Bitcoin’s application asks a federal judge to permit subpoenas to gather documents and testimony from Cantor and Lutnick to support the firm’s foreign litigation targeting the Tether‑appointed directors. 

Featured image from ABC News, chart from TradingView.com