US Department of Justice announces: Turkish businessman arrested in Miami

 The US Department of Justice announced that Turkish businessman Taşkın Torlak was detained in Miami on November 2 on allegations of attempting to circumvent US sanctions by shipping oil from Venezuela. In a written statement on Monday, November 4, the US Department of Justice alleged that 37-year-old Taşkın Torlak 'conspired to illegally sell Venezuelan oil by using deceit and trickery to hide the fact that the oil originated from Venezuela.' According to the statement from the department, Torlak was detained in Miami while attempting to travel from the US to Turkey.

The US had previously reimposed sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil and natural gas company, PdVSA, alleging that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had failed to fulfill commitments to return to negotiations with opposition parties and to hold fair elections.

'FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE VENEZUELAN STATE COMPANY...'

The statement from the US Department of Justice noted that Taşkın Torlak was detained on allegations that he attempted to ship oil from Venezuela 'for the benefit of PdVSA,' thereby violating US sanctions. US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves stated that Torlak resorted to 'deception to smuggle black-market oil from Venezuela.' The prosecutor said, "The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable those who engage in criminal efforts to circumvent sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime."

The statement, which recalled that PdVSA is under sanctions by the US government, noted that Torlak was detained while trying to travel from the US to Turkey. Referring to the complaint filed against Torlak, the statement noted that he is charged with 'conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).' According to the complaint, 'at least as early as November 2020, Torlak and other co-conspirators designed and implemented a complex scheme to violate and evade US sanctions related to petroleum products from Venezuela and Iran.'

ALLEGATIONS OF 'TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PAYMENTS'

The alleged plan involved 'obscuring the identities of tankers shipping oil by changing the names and flags of the ships, covering the names of the ships with paint or tarps, and turning off the electronics used to track the locations of the ships for the safety of the vessels and crew.' It is alleged that Torlak and his associates also received tens of millions of dollars in payments from PdVSA to ship the Venezuelan oil.

According to the statement, Torlak and other suspects hid the identity of the ultimate beneficiary of these financial transactions from financial institutions in the US. According to the complaint, Torlak and his associates also took steps to hide their activities from US government agencies, including the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as well as from maritime trade institutions. The statement indicated that the investigation is being conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations unit in Washington.