On November 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Turkish national Taskin Torlak for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions laws in connection with a scheme to transport Venezuelan oil for Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (“PdVSA”), Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company. According to the DOJ, Torlak was arrested in Miami, Florida on November 2, 2024 as he attempted to flee the United States and return to Turkey.
According to the DOJ, federal prosecutors filed a complaint charging Torlak with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) for conspiring with others to cause U.S. financial institutions to unlawfully process transactions for the benefit of PdVSA, an entity designated by the United States in 2019. According to federal prosecutors, Torlak and his co-conspirators engaged in a complex scheme to transport petroleum products from Venezuela and Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions laws, by disguising the identities of tankers used to transport the oil, including efforts to re-name and re-flag the vessels and turn off their electronic tracking systems. In exchange for transporting the oil, the conspirators allegedly received tens of millions of dollars from PdVSA. In furtherance of the scheme, Torlak and the co-conspirators allegedly concealed the ultimate beneficiaries from U.S. financial institutions who unwittingly processed the payments and also allegedly engaged in discussions regarding the need to hide their misconduct from the U.S. Government and certain commercial maritime entities.