Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, was sentenced in Washington, DC, to 10 months in federal prison after leading the US Coast Guard on a weeks-long pursuit while captaining a shadow fleet tanker used to transport sanctioned oil, federal prosecutors announced.
When he's finished serving his sentence, he'll be deported.
Kalandadze, of the Republic of Georgia, was the master of the motor tanker Bella 1, which transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia between September and late December 2025, according to his plea agreement.
The ship wasn't exactly advertising what it was doing.
Prosecutors said Kalandadze sailed with the vessel's Automatic Identification System turned off and concealed the Bella 1's name during a ship-to-ship transfer of the oil.
Then came the chase.
In December 2025, the Bella 1 was headed toward Venezuela when it was intercepted by the US Coast Guard Cutter Munro.
The Coast Guard ordered Kalandadze to stop.
He didn't.
Instead, prosecutors said the Bella 1 fled across the Atlantic, kicking off a pursuit that stretched from the Caribbean Sea into the North Atlantic.
And Kalandadze didn't simply keep sailing.
At the direction of a corporate representative connected to the vessel's operator, prosecutors said he repeatedly ignored orders from federal officers and destroyed records and information aboard the tanker as the Coast Guard closed in.
The Munro stayed on him.
For weeks.
The pursuit finally ended on Jan. 7, when the Coast Guard helped execute a lawful seizure of the Bella 1.
Federal officials said the operation involved oil connected to sanctioned actors, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Kalandadze led the US Coast Guard on a reckless weeks-long chase across the Atlantic, endangering servicemembers’ lives all to turn a profit on sanctioned oil for the benefit of US adversaries,” acting Deputy Executive Associate Director John Condon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) added.
“Despite early attempts to evade detection, Homeland Security Investigations and our task force partners used our expertise in countering illicit finance and dark fleet movements to identify, locate, and seize these sanctioned tankers."
Kalandadze faced up to five years in prison.
“Kalandadze used a range of deceptive maritime tactics in an attempt to evade the US Coast Guard and move millions of barrels of illicit oil tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and other sanctioned actors engaged in terrorism,” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division added.
“Those who attempt to evade US sanctions by ignoring US Coast Guard orders will be investigated thoroughly."
The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the US Coast Guard, and other federal partners.
Kalandadze pleaded guilty on June 12 to one count of failing to heave to a Coast Guard cutter, setting the stage for Friday's 10-month sentence.
"Kalandadze captained a vessel used to conceal illicit oil shipments for US adversaries, and when the Coast Guard ordered him to stop, he fled," US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said.
Her message after the sentencing was considerably shorter than the chase.
"The ocean does not place anyone beyond our reach."
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