A Turkish national has been arrested in the US where he is accused of violating sanctions against Venezuela’s oil sector, the US Department of Justice announced today.

37-year-old Taskin Torlak was arrested on Saturday in Miami (southeast) as he was preparing to return to Turkey, according to information from the Ministry of Justice and the prosecutor’s office in the federal capital Washington.

He is being prosecuted for allegedly trying, between November and June 2023, to sell oil originating in Venezuela on behalf of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) which has been subject to US sanctions since 2019. The sanctions against the Venezuelan state oil company are intended to “prevent the regime (of President Nicolas Maduro) from further depleting national resources while it illegally maintains power,” prosecutor Matthew Graves said.

“The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable those involved in illegal attempts to circumvent the sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime,” said Matthew Olsen, Under Secretary of Justice for Homeland Security.

According to the indictment, Taskin Torlak and his alleged accomplices, who have not yet been named, received tens of millions of dollars from PdVSA to organize the transportation of oil shipments from Venezuela, camouflaging their origin.

In April, the US government reimposed sanctions against Venezuela’s oil sector, underscoring that the Maduro government is continuing its policy of suppressing the opposition.

Washington had eased sanctions in October 2023 following an agreement between representatives of President Maduro and the opposition to hold “free and fair” elections in the first half of the year.