The US Department of Justice has told a federal judge that it feels Empire Navigation’s fine for smuggling sanctioned Iranian oil has been paid through the costs it incurred in bringing the cargo to Texas.
Lawyers for the US Attorney’s Office in Washington DC told district judge Carl Nichols that prosecutors consider the nearly $2.46m fine “satisfied” by the Greek shipping company and affiliate shipowning entity Suez Rajan Ltd.
Both companies agreed to plead guilty to charges associated with a ship-to-ship transfer of Iranian oil to the company’s 158,600-dwt tanker Suez Rajan (built 2011), which has since been renamed St Nikolas.
But the plea agreement included dollar-for-dollar offsets of the criminal penalty for cooperation by Stamatis Molaris-controlled Empire.
“Here, defendants incurred significant expenses transporting the sanctioned cargo to the US, which expenses exceeded the criminal fine imposed by the court,” the government’s lawyers said in a court filing.
As TradeWinds reported in an in-depth story, the justice department has said in court filings that an Empire Navigation employee instructed the captain of the Suez Rajan to falsify court documents to treat a transfer of 4,000 barrels from the 300,000-dwt CS Brilliance (built 1998) and the 1m barrels of Iranian crude from the 306,000-dwt tanker Virgo (built 2002) as one operation, among other allegations.
But Empire has also been applauded by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) chief executive Mark Wallace for ultimately pleading guilty and helping US authorities move the Suez Rajan from waters off Malaysia to an anchorage off Galveston, where the cargo was transferred to the port of Houston.
“Empire Navigation did the right thing and took the off-ramp from the mob-like industry of Iran’s oil smuggling network,” the former UN ambassador said after court records in the case were unsealed.
“We commend Empire Navigation for its cooperation with UANI and the US government. Unlike those that persist in illicit oil smuggling, Empire’s shipping business will continue to thrive and their reputation will be rehabilitated.”
Read more
- Suez Rajan: Falsified documents, fake signals, a captain’s protests and a sea of questions
- Iran threat leaves shipowners caught ‘between a rock and a hard place’ on US sanctions rules
- Comment: What price will shipping pay for its wonky moral compass?
- Suez Rajan cases raise questions over Iran’s crude dealings and US sanctions
- Oil sale already approved in US forfeiture action against Suez Rajan cargo
