According to the documents, Tether was built by the joint efforts of ex-plastic surgeon Giancarlo Devasini and former child actor and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce. In September 2014, Tether Holdings was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

Four years later, Pierce had already left the company and Devasini owned about 43% of Tether. Devasini also helped to build crypto exchange Bitfinex, where he is currently chief financial officer. Bitfinex's CEO Jean-Louis van Der Velde and chief counsel Stuart Hoegner each owned roughly 15% of Tether in 2018, according to documents.

The fourth-largest shareholder in Tether as of 2018 was a man with dual citizenship, known as Christopher Harborne in the United Kingdom and Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand, who owned 13%. 

Through their own holdings and another related company, the four men controlled approximately 86% of Tether, the report said.