From this news you shared, it practically showed that a lot of exchanges, both old and new are really not fancying the idea of Tether usage anymore and if anything is not shady with tether, I wonder why the team will refuse auditing in the first place.
Exactly. There is no reason to refuse an external audit unless they have something to hide. The fact that Bitfinex and Tether claimed they were separate entities, while actually being run by the same people and owned by the same shell company is shady enough. The only reason to refuse anyone looking at their finances is if their finances are a mess.
I suspect they currently do not have enough assets to cover all their debts, but are hoping that this will all blow over and they can continue to operate to recuperate their losses. It's incredibly risky to be involved in either Tether or Bitfinex right now.