In response to the "Wall Street Journal" report that "Tether used forged documents and shell companies to open bank accounts", Tether issued a statement on its official website to refute it, saying that the report was completely inaccurate and misleading. Bitfinex and Tether have world-class compliance programs and adhere to applicable anti-money laundering, KYC and anti-terrorist financing legal requirements. Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of Tether, had previously refuted it on Twitter, saying that the Wall Street Journal's report contained "a lot of misinformation and inaccuracies."