American moves to claim the tanker and two million barrels of detained Venezuelan oil

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has filed a complaint to legally gain ownership of a sanctioned tanker and nearly 2 million barrels of oil seized off the coast of Venezuela in December, another move by President Donald Trump’s administration to assert authority over the country’s oil sector following the arrest of leader Nicolas Maduro.

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This is the first complaint filed by the United States to initiate legal proceedings to formally control one of at least 10 oil tankers that US authorities have intercepted since late last year. The United States has accused Venezuela of using a shadow fleet of ships flying false flags to smuggle illicit crude oil into global supply chains.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the era of secretly funded regimes that pose clear threats to the United States has ended,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an emailed statement. “The Department of Justice will deploy every legal authority at our disposal to completely dismantle and permanently shut down any operation that defies our laws and fuels chaos around the world.”

The seizure of the ship, named Skipper, in December was the first in a series of similar actions by the Republican administration and represents a major escalation in Trump’s campaign to pressure Maduro by cutting off access to oil revenues that have long been the lifeblood of Venezuela’s economy.

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Maduro, who described the seizure of the tanker as an “act of international piracy,” was arrested in a US raid last month and transferred to New York to face drug smuggling charges. He pleaded his innocence, protested his arrest, and declared himself “president of my country.” In the wake of his ouster, several ships fled the coast of Venezuela despite Trump’s quarantine on sanctioned oil tankers, and US forces followed and intercepted some as far away as the Indian Ocean.

The Trump administration set out to control global Venezuelan oil production, refining, and distribution and oversee revenue flows. The United States has begun lifting wide-ranging sanctions to allow foreign companies to operate in Venezuela in an attempt to revitalize its faltering oil industry.

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A judge in federal court in Washington must sign the US government’s request to permanently gain ownership of the Skipper and its cargo so the oil can be sold.

The Justice Department alleges that the tanker transported oil from Iran and Venezuela around the world, flying false flags to hide its illegal activities while providing revenue for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the United States considers a foreign terrorist organization.

“Thanks to the coordinated efforts of our prosecutors and our law enforcement partners, a ghost tanker that for years secretly transported illicit oil from Iran and Venezuela around the world has been removed from the seas,” Assistant Attorney General Tyson Duva, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.

He said, “Today’s actions are an important step in making America and the world safer by disrupting the flow of millions of dollars to foreign terrorist organizations.”