I've only used USDT to hide my money while the whole market corrected last month, since USDT wouldn't move much and actually went up a few cents inverse to the correction. I did that all through Poloniex, however, and turned the USDT back into BTC without withdrawing it.
I think it's still a good way to leverage security with risk, and to provide some FIAT-like liquidity on markets that don't take cash.
Not sure what happened in your case, but good luck to you!
Exactly what i wanted to do! Exactly that! Let's see where this all goes! Sure people will learn a thing or two. Thank you for relating your experience!