Tether’s USDT became part of a failed Venezuelan oil transaction involving Poland’s state-controlled energy group Orlen, exposing a complex chain of intermediaries used to move money for sanctioned-market trade. Orlen Trading Switzerland, or OTS, advanced $230 million under a deal for roughly 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, according to a Financial Times investigation.
The transaction did not involve Orlen sending $230 million directly to PDVSA in USDT. OTS transferred the advance to Dubai-based Hannon International Middle East on December 4, 2023, after which Hannon used brokers and intermediaries to obtain USDT for the oil purchase. The FT reported that PDVSA had increasingly sought stablecoin payments as U.S. sanctions restricted access to conventional dollar settlement channels.
USDT Transfers Complicated the $230 Million Oil Deal
The original agreement was worth approximately $345 million and covered about 6 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey 16 crude. Hannon initially obtained around $80 million in USDT through a Dubai financial services company, paying roughly $400,000 in commission, according to the FT’s reconstruction of the payment trail.
Additional transactions became disputed. Hannon transferred $135 million to another Dubai company, Horizon Global, but said it received only $85 million in USDT in return, leaving a $50 million discrepancy that Horizon has contested. Hannon also used other intermediaries, including transfers involving crypto credentials physically delivered to brokers in Caracas.
The expected crude cargoes largely failed to materialize. Orlen ultimately received only about 500,000 barrels of fuel oil worth approximately $28.8 million before the contract was terminated, far below the value of its advance. Earlier Reuters reporting confirmed that OTS made hundreds of millions of dollars in prepayments for Venezuelan oil and other products that were not delivered as contracted.
Polish Prosecutors Pursue Wider Orlen Losses
The failed transaction forms part of a broader criminal investigation into OTS’s trading activities. Polish prosecutors have calculated losses of approximately $378 million from prepayments connected with three crude-oil contracts, mainly involving Venezuelan supplies. Three former Orlen and OTS managers were indicted in August 2026 and have denied wrongdoing.
Authorities are separately pursuing former OTS chief Samer Awad. Awad was detained in the United Arab Emirates in 2025, and Poland has requested his extradition as the investigation continues. Orlen had previously recognized a PLN 1.6 billion write-down related to prepayments whose recovery it considered unlikely.
The case also illustrates an important distinction around stablecoin risk. The available evidence does not show that USDT itself malfunctioned; the losses arose within the commercial and intermediary structure used to execute the transaction. Tether can freeze addresses under its sanctions and law-enforcement policies, a capability also highlighted in previous coverage of large USDT freezes. Tether formally expanded its voluntary sanctions-related wallet-freezing policy in December 2023.
For Orlen, the unresolved issue is how much of the remaining money can ultimately be recovered from the intermediaries involved, while Polish authorities continue criminal proceedings and the extradition process surrounding the former OTS leadership.