Thanks for that link. They did seem to partially defend tethers, while of course selling their alternative. Here is the main thrust of their "defense" of whether its fully backed or not:

"Calculating Bitfinex to have been making $10 million in exchange fees a day at the height of bitcoin mania, Bitmex opines that Tether likely has plenty of assets, either directly, or indirectly via Bitfinex, should the need arise. The report then extensively deals with rumors that Tether is seeking to set up banking operations in Puerto Rico, where regulators take a more hands-off approach. It’s possible, opine the report’s authors, that all of the fiat currency backing tethers is stored in the Puerto Rican banking system. While far from perfect, this arrangement – if true – shoots down the allegation that Tether is a Ponzi scheme with nothing backing it."

That is the kind of speculation that is really unnecessary, unfortunate, and what a clean audit would completely take care of. People are putting their hard earned cash into assets where the conjecture is based on rumors and likelihood of whether it is backed or not, when that was the promise.

This technology was supposed to be a better system, more trustless and more transparent. They should make this simple so people don't need to be opining on whether it is backed or not.