The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to assume legal possession of the supertanker Skipper and nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil seized off the coast of Venezuela in December. This action is part of President Donald Trump’s government’s campaign to consolidate its control over the Venezuelan oil sector following the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro.
It is the first time that the United States has resorted to this legal mechanism to formalize the control of one of at least ten tankers intercepted since the end of last year.
According to U.S. authorities, Venezuela had used a “ghost fleet” with falsified flags to introduce illicit crude into global supply chains. The Department of Justice denounced the existence of a plan, in effect since at least 2021, to facilitate the shipment and marketing of petroleum products for the benefit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States considers a foreign terrorist organization.
The
Skipper would have transferred crude oil from Iran and Venezuela through ship-to-ship transfers, delivering it to destinations of “pariah regimes”.
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The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, stated in a statement: “Under the leadership of President Trump, the era of secretly funding regimes that pose clear threats to the United States is over.” The U.S. government maintained that it will deploy all its legal authority to dismantle any operation that defies its laws and fuels global chaos.
The seizure of the
Skipper in December marked the beginning of a series of measures that intensified the pressure on Maduro, with the aim of cutting off access to the oil revenues that have historically sustained the Venezuelan economy. Following Maduro’s arrest in a US raid and his transfer to New York to face drug trafficking charges, several vessels linked to Venezuela escaped from the coast despite the quarantine imposed on sanctioned oil tankers.
The complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia requests the permanent forfeiture of the
Skipper and its cargo, which would allow for the eventual sale of the oil. The Department of Justice argues that the vessel falsified its location and flew false flags to conceal its movements and evade international sanctions.
The Deputy Attorney General, A. Tysen Duva, stated: “A ghost tanker that for years secretly transported illicit oil from Iran and Venezuela around the world has been removed from the seas.” He added that these actions seek to disrupt the flow of millions of dollars to foreign terrorist organizations and increase the security of both the United States and globally.
