> They could erase a lot of the stink by going through an audit but for some reason they won’t.

They're required to by the new stablecoin legislation [0] in a provision that almost looks specifically targeted at Tether. Not sure what the time frame for this is, or if there's actually any appetite to enforce the law if they dont produce a clean audit.

[0] you can read the full text of the law here, too long for HN: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ27/html/PLAW...