Georgian national Avtandil Kalandadze, the former ship master of a "shadow fleet" tanker that had transported Iran- and Venezuela-origin oil in violation of US sanctions, has been sentenced in the US District of Columbia Federal Court to 10 months' imprisonment in connection with refusing to obey orders from the US Coast Guard during a multi-week pursuit from the Caribbean Sea through to the North Atlantic Ocean, US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said.
The 47-year-old Kalandadze pleaded guilty on June 12, 2026, before Judge Beryl A. Howell to one count of failing to heave to a coast guard cutter. Kalandadze will be deported at the completion of his 10-month prison term.
According to the plea agreement, from September 2025 until late December 2025, Kalandadze was the master of the tanker Bella 1, which was later renamed Marinera.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said that, during Kalandadze's time as master of Bella 1 , the ship transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia. During this time, Kalandadze employed common obfuscation techniques to hide the ship's activities, including sailing with an inactivated AIS and concealing the ship's name while engaging in a ship-to-ship transfer of the Iran-origin oil to another vessel.
In December 2025, while under his charge, Bella 1 was en route to Venezuela when it was intercepted by the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Munro. Bella 1 failed to comply with the coast guard’s order to heave to and fled across the Atlantic Ocean.
Munro pursued Bella 1 throughout its flight and, on January 7, 2026, aided in the execution of a lawful seizure of the vessel.
The DOJ added that during the flight and at the direction of a corporate representative of the operator, Kalandadze took multiple steps to avoid the coast guard interdiction, including disobeying multiple orders by authorised federal law enforcement officers to heave to for Munro and destroying records and information on board Bella 1.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. Significant assistance on this matter was provided by the DOJ’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and the Office of International Affairs.
