The US arrests a Turkish businessman accused of helping Venezuela evade sanctions

MIAMI– A Turkish businessman was arrested in Miami on Monday and accused of helping Venezuela's state oil company evade U.S. sanctions.

Taskin Torlak, 37, was arrested while attempting to return to Turkey, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

According to court documents, Torlak operated several companies involved in the shipping of sanctioned oil. Starting in 2020, he allegedly began working with unnamed co-conspirators and companies from Ukraine, China, Indonesia and elsewhere to transport Venezuela's crude oil at a time when most Western buyers were avoiding the South American country for fear of facing U.S. sanctions undermined ouster of President Nicolas Maduro.

Torlak and his associates allegedly concealed the identities of transaction beneficiaries to allow U.S. banks to unwittingly process payments related to the illicit oil shipments.

“We could use one of the clean names to avoid getting money stuck somewhere,” he allegedly wrote in communications with one of the co-conspirators.

To avoid detection, the chartered oil tankers transporting illegal Venezuelan crude often turned off their automatic tracking systems, a mandatory safety device. They also frequently changed the ship register to maintain so-called flags of convenience.

It was not immediately possible to find a lawyer for Torlak.

After Maduro's first re-election in 2018, in which several key opponents were barred from running, the US began tightening sanctions against Venezuela. Since then, the self-proclaimed socialist leader has deepened his hold on power, claiming this year that he had won a third, six-year term despite his opponents presenting evidence that the vote had been stolen. The US responded with another round of sanctions against officials accused of obstructing the vote and committing human rights abuses.

“The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable those involved in criminal efforts to evade sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement.