Polish state-owned enterprise loses approximately $345 million buying Venezuelan crude oil with cryptocurrency

TechFlow reports on September 15 that, according to the UK's Financial Times (FT), the Swiss trading subsidiary OTS of Poland's state-owned refining company Orlen purchased Venezuelan crude oil subject to US sanctions via intermediaries using the stablecoin USDT, with a contract value of approximately $345 million. However, during the multi-layered handover among brokers, funds were massively "evaporated." Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA refused to load the cargo citing non-receipt of payment, leaving several large tankers waiting in Venezuelan waters for months before returning almost entirely empty. The Polish government estimates that the loss from this incident amounts to at least 1.6 billion zloty, including various incidental costs. After the incident was exposed in April 2024, it quickly escalated into a major scandal, prompting Polish authorities to launch an investigation and file lawsuits against the relevant executives. Former OTS CEO Samer Awad was arrested in the UAE in January 2025, but was subsequently released after a UAE court rejected the extradition request.