United States v. All Petroleum-Product Cargo

• Decision Date: 01 October 2021
• Docket Number: Civil Action 20-1791 (JEB)
• Parties: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. ALL PETROLEUM-PRODUCT CARGO ABOARD THE BELLA WITH INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION No. 9208124, et al., Defendants In Rem.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff,
v.
ALL PETROLEUM-PRODUCT CARGO ABOARD THE BELLA WITH INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION No. 9208124, et al., Defendants In Rem.

Civil Action No. 20-1791 (JEB)

United States District Court, District of Columbia

October 1, 2021

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES E. BOASBERG UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Having seized several ships bearing allegedly contraband Iranian petroleum products, the United States brought this forfeiture action in rem. Defendants are four separate properties: (1) All petroleum-product cargo aboard the Bella with International Maritime Organization number 9208124 (Defendant Property 1); (2) All petroleum-product cargo aboard the Bering with IMO number 9149225 (Defendant Property 2); (3) All petroleum-product cargo aboard the Pandi with IMO number 9105073 (Defendant Property 3); and (4) All petroleum-product cargo aboard the Luna with IMO number 9208100 (Defendant Property 4). The Government alleges that the Defendant Properties are subject to forfeiture pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(G)(i) because they provided certain persons a source of influence over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. As the only known potential claimants have failed to prosecute their claims, and no one else has claimed an interest or otherwise defended the action, the Clerk of Court entered a default on April 29, 2021. See ECF No. 29 (Clerk's Entry of Default). Plaintiff has now moved for default judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of

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Civil Procedure 55(b)(2). As the United States has sufficiently demonstrated that the allegations in its Complaint warrant such judgment, the Court will grant the Motion.

I. Background

Given the default in this case, the Court accepts the facts alleged in the Government's Complaint as true. The IRGC “‘is a non-traditional instrumentality of Iran,' serving as ‘the military arm of a kind of shadow government answering directly to the Ayatollah and the mullahs who hold power in Iran.'” Christie v. Islamic Republic of Iran, No. 19-1289, 2020 WL 3606273, at *3 (D.D.C. July 2, 2020) (quoting Blais v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 459 F.Supp.2d 40, 47 (D.D.C. 2006)). In 2019, both the President and the Secretary of State designated the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization. See ECF No. 32-1 (Pl. Mot. for DJ) at 4.

The Government contends that Iran's petroleum and petrochemical industries provide “major sources of revenue for the Iranian regime and fund its malign activities throughout the Middle East.” Id. at 5 (citations omitted). Reflecting the link between these industries and the IRGC, the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, charged with administering and enforcing economic and trade sanctions, described the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as “an agent or affiliate of the IRGC.” Id. OFAC concluded that “[i]n spring 2019 alone, this IRGC-QF [Quds Force]-led network employed more than a dozen vessels to transport nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil, ” which, taken collectively, “sold for more than half a billion dollars.” Id. at 3 (citations omitted).

In January 2020, “Company 1, ” a “U.A.E.-based trading company, ” allegedly “requested that the owner of [a vessel named] the Pandi carry gasoline from Iran to the U.A.E.” Id. at 8. The Government contends that the request was made on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), a subsidiary of the NIOC. Id. Near the end of

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February 2020, Company 1 invoiced the Avantgarde Group for the sale of the gasoline, requesting a $14.9 million cash payment. Id. The Avantgarde Group has connections to the IRGC and “has received payments from Mohammad Saeed Al Aqili and the Al Aqili Group.” Id. Both Al Aqili and the Al Aqili Group were designated by OFAC in 2014 for assisting the Iranian regime in selling oil in evasion of U.S. trade and economic sanctions. Id. at 7.

The Government alleges that Mahmoud Madanipour, “an Iranian national . . . affiliated with the IRGC, ” id. at 6, acted as Company 1's representative in arranging the Pandi shipment. See ECF No. 4-1 (Thomas Tamsi Aff.) at 9. Madanipour later altered shipping documents, substituting a different company, Mobin International Ltd., in place of Company 1 as the party responsible for the shipment. See Pl. Mot. for DJ at 8. A bill of lading onboard the Pandi, however, “indicated that the shipper was NIOC and listed the consignee as ‘To Order of Shipper (NIOPDC) Account of Mobin International Ltd.'” Id. Mobin International...