Poland has been drawn right into a $378 million prison case over failed Venezuelan oil contracts after new reporting traced a part of a $230 million fee via $USDT.
The FT reported on Sept. 15 that Orlen Buying and selling Switzerland, the Swiss buying and selling arm of Poland’s state-controlled vitality group Orlen, agreed in late 2023 to buy roughly six million barrels of Venezuelan Merey 16 crude in a transaction valued close to $345 million. OTS superior roughly $230 million via Dubai-based Hannon Worldwide, with a lot of the cash reportedly transformed into Tether’s $USDT as brokers tried to rearrange fee inside Venezuela.
Polish authorities are analyzing a bigger set of transactions. Warsaw prosecutors indicted three former managers on Aug. 7 over three oil contracts signed between August and December 2023, alleging their selections triggered $378 million, or round PLN 1.5 billion, in injury to Orlen and OTS. The defendants might face sentences of as much as 25 years if convicted.
230 mln dolarów zaliczki. Zamówionej ropy brak. „Monetary Instances” opisuje interesy Orlenu za Obajtka: pośrednicy, kryptowaluty, pendrive’y przekazywane w restauracjach w Caracas.
Tak PiS pilnował polskiego majątku. Stołki dla swoich. Straty dla Polski. pic.twitter.com/xlEoqjyKb2
— Adam Szłapka (@adamSzlapka) September 15, 2026
Poland’s oil deal despatched $330 million via Dubai companies
The Venezuelan commerce concerned greater than the $230 million fee now linked to Hannon. Reuters reported in 2024 that OTS despatched a mixed $330 million to 2 Dubai-based intermediaries, with Hannon receiving roughly $230 million and Horizon World receiving one other $100 million.
Venezuela’s state oil producer PDVSA didn’t obtain the anticipated cash, in line with the Reuters investigation. Sources acquainted with the transactions mentioned the producer due to this fact didn’t allocate the crude cargoes that OTS anticipated to gather. Tankers chartered for the commerce hung out ready close to Venezuela earlier than leaving with out the deliberate shipments.
The FT’s later investigation offered new element on the $230 million Hannon leg. Its reporting mentioned a lot of the fee was “largely transferred as Tether ($USDT)” via a collection of intermediaries. The report described merchants transferring data wanted to conduct digital-asset transactions whereas making an attempt to finish funds to Venezuelan brokers.
The out there reporting doesn’t set up that cryptocurrency itself triggered the business loss. Investigators are analyzing the contracts, counterparties, supervision and stream of funds, whereas the prison fees concern alleged failures by executives to guard Orlen’s property when the agreements had been permitted.
OTS finally obtained solely a restricted quantity of petroleum product from the deliberate Venezuelan buy, in line with the FT. The majority of the six million barrels lined by the contract didn’t arrive, whereas chartered tankers generated additional prices as they waited for cargo.
$USDT grew to become a part of Venezuela’s oil fee system
The usage of $USDT within the Orlen transaction got here throughout a interval when Venezuela was rising its use of cryptocurrency in oil gross sales.
As crypto.information beforehand reported, PDVSA started transferring extra crude and gas transactions towards $USDT as U.S. sanctions difficult entry to traditional banking channels. Venezuelan oil officers mentioned on the time that contracts might use totally different currencies and that cryptocurrency may very well be most well-liked in sure transactions.
Reuters had reported in April 2024 that PDVSA was steadily transferring oil transactions towards Tether and had begun requiring some new prospects to carry cryptocurrency in digital wallets. Sources advised the publication that the corporate was requesting 50% prepayment in $USDT for some spot cargoes as U.S. restrictions returned.
For buying and selling companies, such constructions might contain further intermediaries as a result of some established monetary establishments wouldn’t course of the fee routes required by PDVSA. The reported use of intermediaries doesn’t by itself set up unlawful conduct, and every transaction stays topic to its personal sanctions, compliance and contractual circumstances.
Venezuela’s reliance on $USDT has continued increasing outdoors oil transactions. Binance’s Venezuelan peer-to-peer market processed an estimated 1.389 billion $USDT between June 11 and July 13, 2026, primarily based on knowledge from Ecoanalítica. The estimate considerations home P2P exercise and is unrelated to the Orlen prison proceedings.
Poland’s prosecutors put alleged injury at $378 million
Poland’s official loss determine is decrease than some current estimates of the whole value of the affair.
The Aug. 7 indictment states that three unfavorable crude contracts triggered $378 million in alleged injury, equal to roughly PLN 1.5 billion. Prosecutors charged former Orlen board member Michał R., former OTS board member Marcin O., and former Orlen and OTS government Filip W.
Based on the submitting, prosecutors allege the boys acted collectively by failing to hold out supervisory duties and defend the pursuits of Orlen and its subsidiaries. The fees stay allegations and haven’t been confirmed in court docket. One defendant faces a separate accusation associated to allegedly concealing property from potential seizure.
The Polish Inner Safety Company, or ABW, mentioned investigators carried out searches, questioned witnesses, reviewed paperwork and secured property belonging to suspects throughout the investigation. The company confirmed that the indictment considerations contracts entered into between August and December 2023.
The customarily-cited determine of roughly $424 million refers to a wider estimate. The FT calculated the next general value after making an allowance for bills past the alleged contract losses, together with transport and authorized prices. Polish prosecutors haven’t adopted $424 million because the injury determine within the prison indictment.
The excellence is necessary for reporting the case precisely: $378 million is the loss alleged by prosecutors, whereas roughly $424 million is a broader estimate that features associated prices.
Former OTS chief stays in separate extradition case
The prison proceedings in opposition to the three indicted former managers don’t cowl former OTS chief Samer A., whose case stays separate.
Poland’s Nationwide Prosecutor’s Workplace mentioned Samer was detained within the United Arab Emirates in January 2025 after authorities sought him via an Interpol Pink Discover. The proceedings in opposition to him concern the identical group of contracts that prosecutors say triggered lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} in losses.
The August indictment confirms that Polish authorities are nonetheless in search of his extradition from the UAE. Prosecutors separated his case from the proceedings in opposition to the opposite three defendants as a result of the extradition course of had not been accomplished.
The ABW mentioned its investigation into Samer stays energetic regardless that the opposite three defendants have now been despatched for trial.
Polish investigators initially positioned the suspected losses linked to Samer and different executives at roughly $370 million earlier than refining the determine to $378 million in later proceedings. The present indictment makes use of the $378 million determine for the three contracts lined by the case.
The defendants indicted in August might every resist 25 years in jail below the costs filed by the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Workplace. Samer’s case will proceed individually if the UAE extradition course of ends in his return to Poland.
