Iranian terrorist group Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGS) attempted to ship almost 1 million barrels of crude oil that was intercepted by the US Government in April. The oil was allegedly bound for China.
The DOJ confirmed the incident in newly unsealed court documents. They released a statement on Friday which read:
"This is the first-ever criminal resolution involving a company that violated sanctions by facilitating the illicit sale and transport of Iranian oil and comes in concert with a successful seizure of over 980,000 barrels of contraband crude oil."
The court documents also allege that “profits from oil sales support the IRGC’s full range of malign activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism and both domestic and international human rights abuses.”
Empire Navigation was the shipping company contracted by Iran’s IRGC to smuggle the oil on their vessel, Suez Rajan. They pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carried a $2.4 million fine, three years of corporate probation, and the cost to transport the oil to the U.S. to be intercepted.
The US Treasury stated that the Suez Rajan attempted to hide the origins of the oil through an elaborate scheme including ship-to-ship transfers and falsified documents. They also allege that the illegal sale would have specifically funded the Quds Force, which is an elite unit within the IRGC that operates in the Middle East.
