Orlen Loses $230 Million in Failed Venezuela Oil Deal Involving USDT

ChainCatcher report, according to Cointelegraph, Tether’s stablecoin USDT has been implicated in a failed Venezuelan oil transaction, resulting in a loss of approximately $230 million for Poland’s state-owned energy giant Orlen. The transaction occurred in late 2023, when Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA began requiring payment in USDT to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions. In November 2023, Samer Awad, a former executive of Orlen Trading Switzerland, Orlen’s trading subsidiary, led the purchase of 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil from PDVSA. On December 4, Orlen transferred a $230 million advance payment to the Dubai-based seller Hannon International Middle East, which then converted the funds into USDT through multiple cryptocurrency brokers and intermediaries. However, most of the funds disappeared during the chain of transfers, and Orlen received only about $29 million worth of crude oil before terminating the contract. Fund flow records show that Hannon paid a $400,000 commission to obtain $80 million in USDT and transferred $135 million to Horizon Global, but claimed to have received only $85 million in USDT. In January 2024, Hannon employees delivered two USB drives containing $60 million and $50 million in USDT respectively to a broker in Caracas. In January 2025, the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office announced an investigation into the related oil contract, with estimated losses of approximately $378 million.