Sept. 8 (UPI) — The Department of Justice announced Friday the first successful disruption of a multimillion-dollar shipment of sanctioned Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps oil. More than 980,000 barrels were seized.
It’s the first criminal resolution involving a company that violated Iranian oil sanctions.
Suez Rajan Ltd. pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the company was sentenced April 19 to a fine of nearly $2.5 million and three years corporate probation.
The seized oil was transported to the United States by Empire Navigation, the company operating the ship carrying the oil.
The DOJ said Empire incurred “significant expenses associated with the vessel’s voyage to the United States.”
That contraband oil cargo is the subject of a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia civil forfeiture action, based on U.S. terrorism and money laundering statutes.
That complaint alleges that the IRGC and multiple entities associated with it schemed to covertly transport and sell the sanctioned oil. They tried to disguise the origin of the oil through ship-to-ship transfers, falsified documents, false automatic identification reporting and other means, according to DOJ.
Also alleged is that the U.S. financial system was used to facilitate the oil transport.
IRGC is a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization.
