The Department of Justice announced that it instructed authorities in the Dominican Republic to seize a plane belonging to the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on behalf of the U.S. The plane, a Dassault Falcon 2000EX, was used by Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company.
The aircraft was seized based on “violations of U.S. export control and sanctions laws,” the Justice Department explained.
Devin DeBacker, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement, “The use of American-made parts to service and maintain aircraft operated by sanctioned entities like PdVSA is intolerable.” DeBacker added that the DOJ, “along with its federal law enforcement partners, will continue to safeguard our national security by identifying, disrupting, and dismantling schemes aimed at procuring American goods in violation of our sanctions and export control laws.”
The aircraft was purchased from the U.S. in 2017. Since 2019, the aircraft has “transported Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez, who is also sanctioned by the U.S. government, to an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in the United Arab Emirates and has been used to transport senior members of the Maduro regime in a continuation of the regime’s misappropriation of PdVSA assets,” the DOJ said.
“Following the imposition of sanctions on PdVSA and identification of the Dassault Falcon 2000EX aircraft as blocked property of PdVSA, the aircraft was serviced and maintained on multiple occasions using parts from the United States,” the statement explained. “The servicing included a brake assembly, electronic flight displays, and flight management computers: all in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws.”
The U.S. government seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX in September 2024.
