Two tanker companies linked to an alleged oil smuggling operation with ties to a Russian oligarch have a history of shipping sanctioned cargoes, according to tanker tracking groups.
Seven people have been charged in the US over an alleged money laundering and sanctions-busting network that is said to have shipped sanctioned Venezuelan oil to Chinese and Russian buyers, TradeWinds reported last week.
US prosecutors did not name the suezmax involved in one shipment from Venezuela but the vessel has been identified as the 159,900-dwt Melogy (built 2002), according to the Associated Press and sources.
