Owners of seized Russian oil tanker claim U.S. improperly sold ship for scrap metal
A U.S. Coast Guard ship accompanies the seized Marinera oil tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, in Burghead, Scotland, in January.Peter Summers / GettyShareAdd NBC News to GoogleNov. 5, 2026, 11:06 AM ESTBy Tom WinterU.S. authorities sold a seized Russian oil tanker to a maritime scrap dealer for well under market value in an “economically irrational” deal meant to thwart the owner’s bid to recover the vessel, the company lawyers said in court papers.
The Justice Department was ordered to respond to the allegations, made by the ship’s Russian owner, Burevestmarin LLC, by 9 a.m. Friday.
The tanker, Bella 1, was seized by the U.S. military in the North Atlantic in early January after a weekslong chase on the high seas. U.S. authorities said the ship, which they believed was carrying illegal Iranian oil, was caught fleeing an American blockade of Venezuela. Attorneys for Burevestmarin dispute the claim that the vessel was carrying Iranian oil.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSMicroplastics are changing the color of ocean water, study suggestsFOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocratic Senate set to thwart Trump’s Supreme Court and judicial appointmentsFOR SUBSCRIBERSHow an unlikely Virginia law could offer a path to justice after a Texas campus sexual assaultFOR SUBSCRIBERSNewly elected Democrats could become 2028 power brokersFOR SUBSCRIBERSStudents’ scrolling thousands of YouTube videos shows need for stricter rules, officials sayFOR SUBSCRIBERSEven before election, Trump’s White House was prepping for Democratic investigationsFOR SUBSCRIBERSAnger over GOP education agenda fueled blue sweeps in Texas, advocates sayFOR SUBSCRIBERSInside the miscalculations that cost Trump control of CongressFOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat Democrats plan to do with House majority: Investigate Trump and tackle affordabilityFOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump discussing possible Hegseth replacements, sources say FOR SUBSCRIBERSMaps: How the vote shifted from the 2024 presidential election to 2026FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe dynamics behind the Democrats’ midterm drubbing of RepublicansFOR SUBSCRIBERSTexas election upset means ‘MAGA’s own private law firm’ will be led by a DemocratFOR SUBSCRIBERSElon Musk moved to Texas to escape Democrats — now they’re in chargeFOR SUBSCRIBERSVance tiptoes out on his own after a midterm wipeoutSlide 1 of 1The ship was sold to a scrap dealer for $9.1 million, the company’s lawyers said, well below the $21 million that the Bella 1 would fetch as scrap metal alone.
Even a proper scrap metal price tag would understate its worth, they added, because the ship has “substantially greater value” as “an operating commercial vessel.”
FOR SUBSCRIBERSMicroplastics are changing the color of ocean water, study suggestsFOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocratic Senate set to thwart Trump’s Supreme Court and judicial appointmentsFOR SUBSCRIBERSHow an unlikely Virginia law could offer a path to justice after a Texas campus sexual assaultFOR SUBSCRIBERSNewly elected Democrats could become 2028 power brokersFOR SUBSCRIBERSStudents’ scrolling thousands of YouTube videos shows need for stricter rules, officials sayFOR SUBSCRIBERSEven before election, Trump’s White House was prepping for Democratic investigationsFOR SUBSCRIBERSAnger over GOP education agenda fueled blue sweeps in Texas, advocates sayFOR SUBSCRIBERSInside the miscalculations that cost Trump control of CongressFOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat Democrats plan to do with House majority: Investigate Trump and tackle affordabilityFOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump discussing possible Hegseth replacements, sources say FOR SUBSCRIBERSMaps: How the vote shifted from the 2024 presidential election to 2026FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe dynamics behind the Democrats’ midterm drubbing of RepublicansFOR SUBSCRIBERSTexas election upset means ‘MAGA’s own private law firm’ will be led by a DemocratFOR SUBSCRIBERSElon Musk moved to Texas to escape Democrats — now they’re in chargeFOR SUBSCRIBERSVance tiptoes out on his own after a midterm wipeoutSlide 1 of 1“As discussed and previously briefed, the Government posits a world in which it can — while withholding notice to known interested parties and while aware of challenges to the Court’s jurisdiction — engage in precisely this kind of economically irrational sale for its own convenience,” the owner’s lawyers wrote.
They said the sale was conducted “behind closed doors” as part of the government’s “self-interested and unreasonable decisions.”
Representatives for the Justice Department and the scrap dealer named in court documents could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.
Tom WinterTom Winter is NBC’s National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent.
