US arrests Turkish businessman accused of helping Venezuela skirt sanctions

MIAMI — A Turkish businessman was arrested Monday in Miami and charged with helping Venezuela's state-run oil company circumvent U.S. sanctions.

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

According to court documents, Torlak operated several companies involved in the shipment of sanctioned oil. Starting in 2020, he allegedly started 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 stayed clear of the South American country for fear of undermining U.S. sanctions aimed at removing President Nicolas Maduro.

Torlak and his associates allegedly hid the identities of transaction beneficiaries to enable U.S. banks to unknowingly process payments related to the illegal oil transports.

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

To evade detection, the chartered oil tankers frequently turned off their automated tracking systems, a mandatory safety device, when transporting the illegal Venezuelan crude. They also frequently changed the vessels' registry to fly so-called flags of convenience.

It wasn't immediately possible to locate an attorney for Torlak.

The U.S. started ratcheting up sanctions on Venezuela following Maduro's first re-election in 2018, in which several key opponents were barred from running. Since then, the self-declared socialist leader has deepened his grip on power and this year claimed he won a third, six-year term in the face of evidence presented by his opponents that the vote was stolen. The U.S. responded with another round of sanctions against officials accused of obstructing the vote and carrying out human rights abuses.

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