$230M in Crypto Vanishes on USB Drives in Venezuela Oil Deal
Poland's state energy company Orlen lost up to $424 million in a failed attempt to purchase discounted Venezuelan crude using Tether, a dollar-pegged stablecoin. The venture began in late November 2023 when Samer Awad met with Kam Ho 'Alex' Tse in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. PDVSA was largely cut off from Western banking networks and required prepayments in USDT to execute trades.
Orlen wired a $230 million advance payment to Hannon International through OTS, which then converted the cash into digital tokens. However, internal communications and blockchain analysis reveal that Hannon converted an initial batch of funds through a Dubai financial firm, paying $400,000 in fees to obtain 80 million USDT.
The shortfall led to a series of USB drives being handed over to Venezuelan brokers linked to PDVSA, containing access to tens of millions in USDT. Following the transfers, contact with the Venezuelan brokers was lost, and PDVSA could not release the oil cargoes as a result. Only one vessel was ultimately loaded, receiving roughly 500,000 barrels of fuel oil worth $28.8 million.