Man Arrested In FL For Trying To Smuggle Venezuelan Oil Into U.S.: DOJ

MIAMI, FL — A Turkish man was arrested in Miami following accusations he tried to smuggle black market oil from Venezuela to sell in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

Taskin Torlak, 37, was arrested Saturday as he was attempting to leave the United States and return to Turkey, prosecutors said. He is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

According to a criminal complaint, Torlak conspired with others to violate U.S. sanctions as part of a scheme to transport oil from Venezuela for the benefit of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA), Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company.

"This defendant allegedly conspired to illegally sell Venezuelan oil, using deceit and trickery to hide the fact that this oil originated from Venezuela," U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia said in a statement. "Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PdVSA, was sanctioned by the U.S. government to prevent the current regime from further depleting the nation’s resources while it unlawfully remains in power."

Graves continued, "We remain dedicated to prosecuting violations of these sanctions until the government of Venezuela takes the necessary steps for these sanctions to be lifted."

According to the complaint, beginning around November 2020, Torlak and others devised and implemented a complex scheme to violate and evade U.S. sanctions related to petroleum products from Venezuela and Iran.

Prosecutors said the scheme included obscuring the identities of tankers moving the oil by re-naming and re-flagging vessels, covering vessel names with paint or blankets, and turning off the electronics that track vessels’ locations for the safety of ships and their crews.

According to the complaint, Torlak and his co-conspirators allegedly received tens of millions of dollars from PdVSA in payment for transporting Venezuelan oil. Prosecutors said they hid the beneficiaries of the related transactions from U.S. financial institutions, which then unwittingly processed payments in furtherance of the scheme.

The complaint further alleges that Torlak and his co-conspirators discussed the need to hide their conduct from the U.S. government and its agencies, as well as commercial maritime entities.

Homeland Security Investigations in Washington, D.C. is investigating the case.