Criminal Complaint Reveals TASCO’s Implication in Recent Venezuela Money Laundering
In the recent sanctions case on Venezuela, Tipco Asphalt's name appeared on the document for implication with money laundering.
Tipco Asphalt Public Company Limited (TASCO), a Thai major asphalt company, is implicated for money laundering in a criminal complaint against a U.S. businessman for violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, according to AP News.
Jorge Nobrega, a businessman who runs Miami-based company, Achabal Technologies, was reportedly arrested at Miami’s international airport last Sunday for a criminal complaint in selling a suppressant foam to insulate fuel tanks on Venezuela’s military aircraft, which is a violation of U.S. sanctions for doing business with the country.
The report said that Nobrega was paid by TASCO for his work.
TASCO is a long-time client of Venezuela for crude procurement to its refinery in Kemaman, Malaysia, which is specifically designed to refine heavy crude oil from Venezuela. Since the commissioning in 2007 until 2020, 90% of the refinery’s feedstock was sourced from Venezuela.
TASCO’s name was shown in the U.S. warning list last year that the company could face a sanction if continuing the business with Venezuela in which the company had taken a step to comply with the world’s largest economy.
AP News reported last year that Venezuela had been relying on the publicly traded TASCO to blunt the impact of U.S. sanctions in a way that TASCO would pay PDVSA’s, the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company, obligations and deduct the amounts from what it owed the Venezuelan oil giant in exchange for deep discounts on crude shipments.
However, in the complaint against Nobrega, TASCO is not named as a defendant, but an investigator for the Department of Homeland Security, citing AP’s report, identified TASCO as the third-party money launderer that the complaint says “collaborated” with PDVSA to move money on behalf of Venezuela’s government.
There is no indication that TASCO knew what services Nobrega’s Achabal Technologies was providing Venezuela even as it acted as a financial intermediary, which allows the company to evade compliance with the U.S. sanctions.