Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, the former ship master of the tanker Bella 1, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to refusing to obey orders from the U.S. Coast Guard during a multi-week pursuit across the Atlantic Ocean. Kalandadze's vessel was involved in transporting Iran- and Venezuela-origin oil for the benefit of U.S. adversaries.
According to the plea agreement, Kalandadze was the master of the Motor Tanker Bella 1 from September 2025 until late-December 2025, during which time it transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia. He employed obfuscation techniques, including inactivating the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and concealing the vessel's name during ship-to-ship transfers. In December 2025, while en route to Venezuela, the Bella 1 was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro but failed to comply with orders to heave to, leading to a chase across the Atlantic until its seizure on January 7.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said, “Kalandadze’s guilty plea today should serve as a warning to ghost fleet owners and operators and all those who man or otherwise support these dangerous, decrepit vessels.” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro added that Kalandadze “put American sailors’ and Coast Guardsmen’s lives at risk while attempting to evade U.S. sanctions and move illicit oil.” Acting Deputy Executive Associate Director John Condon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) highlighted that Kalandadze “endangered servicemembers’ lives all to turn a profit on sanctioned oil for the benefit of U.S. adversaries.”
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division noted that Kalandadze used deceptive maritime tactics to move illicit oil tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Kalandadze, a citizen of the Republic of Georgia, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, with sentencing set for August 7. He will be deported upon completion of his prison term. The case was investigated by HSI and the FBI.