The US Accuses Russians & Venezuelans of Smuggling Oil

• A Russian-Venezuelan network sold oil to Russian & Chinese organizations
• They used crypto to avoid financial restrictions
• Orekhov was listed as a co-owner according to the DOJ

Two Venezuelans and five Russians were accused by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on October 19 of using cryptocurrencies to sell oil barrels from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which had been hit hard by sanctions, as a means of laundering money for Russian oligarchs.

The defendants, according to the press release, smuggled millions of barrels of oil to Russia and China, laundering “tens of millions of dollars” through a variety of proxies and methods, including crypto transactions.

Yury Orekhov, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin, and Sergey Tulyakov—the son of the governor of the Russian region of Krasnoyarsk Krai—are among the defendants from Russia.

How did the criminal organization function?

Juan Carlos Soto and Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce, who acted as an intermediary with the Venezuelan state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A, were also charged by US authorities.

To conceal the transactions, Serrano Ponce and Soto brokered deals between PDVSA and NDA GmbH worth millions of dollars through a complex group of shell companies and bank accounts.

Orekhov was listed by the DOJ as co-owner, managing director, and CEO of Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH, a private company in Germany that trades industrial equipment and commodities, according to the DOJ.

NDA GmbH was a front for buying U.S. military technology that was used in combat aircraft, missile systems, radars, satellites, and other military applications. This technology was then sold to other Russian companies that provided defense services.

In a conversation with Ponce, Orekhov openly admitted that he was acting on behalf of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, using his company as a front, and boasting that they would never be discovered due to the business’s use of intermediaries, according to the information that was made public.

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In addition, the criminal organization obtained substantial sums of cash by utilizing couriers from Latin America and Russia to exchange it for cryptocurrencies in order to conceal their earnings.

The defendants planned a complex scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and Venezuelan-sanctioned oil through shell companies and cryptocurrencies, according to Breon Peace.

At the request of the United States, Orekhov and Uss is being held in Germany and Italy, respectively, while extradition proceedings are underway. The defendants could face up to 30 years in prison in the United States if they are found guilty.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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