Former Ship Master Pleads Guilty to Evading US Coast Guard
Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, the former ship master of a ghost fleet tanker that historically transported Iran- and Venezuela-origin oil for the ultimate benefit of U.S. adversaries, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for refusing to obey orders from the U.S. Coast Guard during a multi-week pursuit from the Caribbean Sea through to the North Atlantic Ocean.
Kalandadze’s guilty plea comes after he was accused of failing to comply with an order from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro, which intercepted his vessel, Bella 1, while it was enroute to Venezuela in December 2025. The Bella 1 failed to heed the Coast Guard’s warning and fled across the Atlantic Ocean, prompting a weeks-long pursuit by the Munro.
DOJ Warns Ghost Fleet Operators: ‘You Will Not Escape‘
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg emphasized that Kalandadze’s guilty plea serves as a warning to ghost fleet owners and operators and all those who man or otherwise support these dangerous, decrepit vessels. “The Department of Justice and our interagency partners will pursue the ghost fleet and its facilitators from the Caribbean Sea to the North Atlantic, to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Persian Gulf, and anywhere in between,” said Eisenberg. “You will not escape.”
Sentencing Set for August 7
Kalandadze pleaded guilty before Judge Beryl A. Howell to failing to heave to a Coast Guard cutter. Sentencing is set for Aug. 7.
“This defendant put American sailors’ and Coast Guardsmen’s lives at risk while attempting to evade U.S. sanctions and move illicit oil,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia. “By refusing lawful orders from the U.S. Coast Guard and leading them on a chase across the Atlantic Ocean, he not only obstructed federal law enforcement, but forced our service members to carry out a dangerous boarding operation in heavy seas.”
Maximum Penalty: Five Years in Prison
Failing to obey an order to heave to carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, absent aggravating circumstances. Kalandadze will be deported after his prison term.
“This defendant led the U.S. Coast Guard on a reckless weeks-long chase across the Atlantic, endangering servicemembers’ lives all to turn a profit on sanctioned oil for the benefit of U.S. adversaries,” said Acting Deputy Executive Associate Director John Condon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “Despite early attempts to evade detection, Homeland Security Investigations and our task force partners used our expertise in countering illicit finance and dark fleet movements to identify, locate, and seize these sanctioned tankers.”
Original Article: ‘You Will Not Escape’: DOJ Warns Ghost Fleet Operators After Tanker Captain’s Guilty Plea — Townhall