Polish Energy Company's $230M Oil Transaction Collapse Involved USDT Payments: Financial Times
A Polish energy corporation reportedly lost $230 million in a botched oil transaction involving Tether's USDT stablecoin during late 2023.
According to a Financial Times report, Tether's USDt, the stablecoin commanding the largest market capitalization globally, was involved in an unsuccessful Venezuelan oil transaction that resulted in Poland's premier energy company losing $230 million during the latter part of 2023.
This development came after Venezuela's state petroleum corporation PDVSA, headquartered in Caracas, started requiring portions of payments to be made in USDT as a method to circumvent American financial sanctions.
The news publication reported on Tuesday that the $230 million represented an upfront payment made predominantly using Tether USDt (USDT) in an oil transaction arranged by Samer Awad, who previously served as an executive at Orlen Trading Switzerland (OTS), a trading arm of Orlen, Poland's state-controlled energy powerhouse, for the procurement of 6 million barrels of crude oil from Venezuela in November 2023 from the government-owned PDVSA.
On Dec. 4, 2023, Orlen transferred the $230 million upfront payment to Dubai-based seller Hannon International Middle East. Hannon reached out to multiple cryptocurrency brokers and middlemen to secure the USDT required for purchasing the crude oil, however the majority of the funds vanished into a complex web of cryptocurrency transactions, with Orlen ultimately receiving approximately $29 million in oil value before deciding to cancel the contract.
Cointelegraph has reached out to both Tether and Orlen requesting their comments on this situation.
David McCoy, managing partner at ADG Legal Abu Dhabi, serving as legal counsel for Hannon, informed Cointelegraph that "Hannon became involved in the transaction at Orlen's request" and bore no responsibility for the "transaction's failure."
"Hannon has since taken significant steps, at its own expense, to recover the funds paid in connection with the transaction and remains open to a constructive dialogue with Orlen about resolving this matter amicably."
Following the trail of the missing $230 million across crypto middlemen
Following Orlen's wire transfer of the $230 million in December 2023, Hannon purportedly secured $80 million in USDT from a Dubai-based financial services firm with which it had prior business relationships, while paying a commission of $400,000.
Subsequently, Hannon transferred $135 million to Dubai-based Horizon Global, but asserted it only collected $85 million worth of USDT, creating a deficit of $50 million. Horizon has disputed these allegations.
Additionally, Hannon stated it transferred $30 million to Gold Mar International Trading, a Dubai-registered entity, anticipating USDT conversion and subsequent payment forwarding for the oil to PDVSA. Hannon indicated it subsequently retrieved $21 million of the USDT from Gold Mar during February 2024.
During January 2024, Hannon staff members purportedly delivered two USB storage devices to a broker in Caracas, holding $60 million and $50 million in USDT, respectively. The following month, access to an additional $11 million in USDT was provided to a different Caracas-based broker.
On March 8, Orlen's vessel was ultimately loaded with approximately 500,000 barrels of fuel oil, valued at merely about $28.8 million. On that identical date, another $11 million in USDT was purportedly transferred to the broker. After receiving only a small fraction of the expected crude oil, Orlen Trading Services officially terminated its contract with Hannon on March 28, 2024.
During January 2025, the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor's Office declared the initiation of an investigation concerning oil contracts connected to Orlen Trading Services, involving damages amounting to 1.5 billion Polish zloty ($378 million).
McCoy informed Cointelegraph that Hannon "is not involved in the investigation in Poland and therefore cannot comment on it."
During August 2026, three former management personnel at Orlen and Orlen Trading Services were allegedly indicted in connection with crude oil contracts that generated $378 million in damages, as reported by Reuters. The managers, identified according to Polish privacy regulations by their last initial only, have all rejected the allegations of wrongdoing. The three individuals, Michal R., a former Orlen management board member, Marcin O., a former OTS board member, and Filip W, a former executive at both Orlen and OTS, are facing potential prison sentences of up to 25 years.