To make things even murkier, the ability to withdraw your Tether to your bank account in the form of USD has not always been guaranteed. As recently as December, Bloomberg reported that Tether's Terms of Service read as follows: “There is no contractual right or other right or legal claim against us to redeem or exchange your tethers for money. We do not guarantee any right of redemption or exchange of tethers by us for money.”
Importantly, a search of the company's current TOS page shows that language has been removed. Now, the company states that "Absent a reasonable legal justification not to redeem Tether Tokens, and provided that you are a fully verified customer of Tether, your Tether Tokens are freely redeemable."
The Terms of Service go on to note, however, that "residents of certain U.S. states are not permitted to be customers of Tether; are not permitted to cause Tethers to be issued or redeemed; and, are not permitted to hold Tether Tokens."