The contraband cargo is now the subject of a civil forfeiture action in the U.S. financial system to facilitate the transportation of Iranian oil. Participants attempted to disguise the origin of the oil using ship-to-ship transfers, false automatic identification system reporting, falsified documents and other means, the DOJ said, adding that the charterer of the vessel used the U.S.
advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, which uses satellite images to track tanker movement and first noted that the Suez Rajan had taken on the oil from another tanker.Įmpire Navigation should be applauded for its cooperation with US authorities, Wallace added. "It's a message to every Iranian smuggler that there is an off ramp from the mob," said Mark Wallace, chief executive of U.S. The Suez Rajan Ltd company pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced by to three years of corporate probation and a fine of almost $2.5 million, according to legal documents.Įmpire Navigation, the operating company of the vessel carrying the contraband cargo, agreed to cooperate and transport the Iranian oil to the United States, the DOJ added, calling it the first criminal resolution to such a sanctions-violating sale.Įmpire Navigation, which also incurred the significant expenses associated with the vessel's voyage to the U.S., did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The vessel was unloaded last month after waiting 2-1/2 months off the coast of Texas to discharge. A plea agreement between the parties was made public this week. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement that for the first time acknowledged its role. The "illicit sale and transport of Iranian oil" violated sanctions targeting Iran, the U.S. statement on Friday confirmed and fleshed out details of the story which cited sources. confiscated cargo onboard tanker Suez Rajan, which was carrying Iranian oil at sea. on Friday divulged it disrupted in April a multimillion-dollar shipment of crude oil by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, seizing more than 980,000 barrels of contraband crude oil that violated U.S.
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