All articles tagged with #oil smuggling
The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned a network led by Iraqi-Kittitian businessman Waleed al-Samarra’i for smuggling Iranian oil by blending it with Iraqi oil and marketing it as Iraqi to evade sanctions, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran and al-Samarra’i, as part of ongoing efforts to pressure Iran and curb its influence in Iraq.
Taskin Torlak, a Turkish national, was arrested in Miami for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions by smuggling Venezuelan oil for the benefit of Venezuela's state-owned company, PdVSA. The scheme involved deceptive practices such as re-naming and re-flagging tankers to evade detection. Torlak and his co-conspirators reportedly received millions from PdVSA and concealed the transactions from U.S. financial institutions. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, with investigations led by Homeland Security Investigations Washington D.C.
The US has charged nine individuals with participating in a scheme to smuggle Iranian oil to China, in violation of US sanctions. The defendants are accused of operating a network of front companies to conceal the origin of the oil and evade sanctions, with the scheme allegedly involving the use of forged documents and deceptive shipping practices.
Satellite images show two oil tankers recently seized by Iran off the coast of Bandar Abbas. The Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet was carrying Kuwaiti crude oil for Chevron Corp. when it was seized on April 27, while the Panama-flagged Niovi was seized on Wednesday as it left a dry dock in Dubai. The Niovi was not carrying any cargo, but data suggests it received oil from a ship known as the Oman Pride, which was sanctioned by the US Treasury in August 2021 for being "involved in an international oil smuggling network" that supported the Quds Force. The seizure of the Niovi is suspected to be related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil.