WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have arrested a Turkish man who they allege was trying to violate sanctions by transporting oil from Venezuela, the Justice Department said on Monday.
The U.S. reimposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in June after what it said was the failure of President Nicolas Maduro to return to talks with the political opposition and commit to fair elections.
In a statement, the Justice Department said 37-year-old Taskin Torlak had “allegedly conspired to illegally sell Venezuelan oil, using deceit and trickery to hide the fact that this oil originated from Venezuela”.
Torlak was arrested in Miami on Saturday as he tried to leave for Turkey.
The department said Torlak and others renamed and reflagged oil tankers and turned off the electronics that track vessel locations, receiving tens of millions of dollars from PDVSA.
In June, Reuters reported that PDVSA had begun using tankers that navigate off radar to supply Cuba with oil.
A large portion of tanker fleets owned by Venezuela and Cuba are under U.S. sanctions, which also limits their travel.
