Seized Russian Oil Tanker Sold for Scrap Metal, Owner Claims Improper Sale
The U.S. authorities sold a seized Russian oil tanker to a maritime scrap dealer for well under market value in an “economically irrational” deal meant to thwart the owner’s bid to recover the vessel, according to court papers filed by the ship’s Russian owner, Burevestmarin LLC.
The Justice Department was ordered to respond to the allegations by 9 a.m. Friday. The U.S. military seized the tanker, Bella 1, in the North Atlantic in early January after a weekslong chase on the high seas. U.S. authorities claimed the ship was carrying illegal Iranian oil and was caught fleeing an American blockade of Venezuela. However, attorneys for Burevestmarin dispute this claim, stating that the vessel was not carrying Iranian oil.
Sale Price Far Below Market Value
The ship was sold to a scrap dealer for $9.1 million, significantly lower than its estimated value as scrap metal alone, which would be around $21 million. The owner’s lawyers argue that even at a proper scrap metal price tag, the vessel has “substantially greater value” as an operating commercial vessel.
“As discussed and previously briefed, the Government posits a world in which it can — while withholding notice to known interested parties and while aware of challenges to the Court’s jurisdiction — engage in precisely this kind of economically irrational sale for its own convenience,” the owner’s lawyers wrote. They claim that the sale was conducted “behind closed doors” as part of the government’s “self-interested and unreasonable decisions.”
Justice Department Response Due
Representatives for the Justice Department and the scrap dealer named in court documents could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday. The Justice Department has previously argued that seizing ships puts the government in a financial bind, so selling the vessels is necessary to avoid tens of millions of dollars in maintenance and repair costs.
A root issue in the court battle is whether American authorities are right to argue that transporting Iranian oil benefits the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guards Force. This question is further complicated by the Trump administration’s permitting international sale of Iranian oil to help relieve domestic fuel prices.
Additional Court Battles
Attorneys representing Bella 1’s owner are also fighting the Justice Department’s efforts to seize other ships it owns, citing what they believe is a legal double standard invoked by the government. In the case of the vessel Galileo, attorneys for the shipowner argued that “on March 20, 2026, the same day that the Government (under seal and ex parte) alleged that the Galileo was a source of influence over the IRGC and IRGC-QF, it expressly licensed the international sale of Iranian oil — an action that would be illegal under multiple statutes were the shipment of Iranian oil in itself necessarily the equivalent of providing a means of support to the IRGC or IRGC-QF or becoming the property of the IRGC or IRGC-QF.”
Original Article: Owners of seized Russian oil tanker claim U.S. improperly sold ship for scrap metal — Yahoo