Russian Owner of Notorious Tanker Challenge US Sale as It Reaches Scrappers
The crude oil tanker Bella 1 (aka Marinera) reportedly arrived at Chattogram, Bangladesh, on November 4, under the name Era, prompting urgent new court filings in the United States from the purported Russian owners of the vessel, who are challenging the United States' forfeiture and sale of the vessel. The vessel famously made international headlines in December 2025 and January 2026 as the United States Coast Guard chased it across the Atlantic before a seizure and took the vessel to Scotland.
Lawyers for Burevestmarin, a Russian company that claims to have acquired the vessel on December 17, 2025, are contesting the sale by the United States, calling it an “economically irrational sale for its own convenience,” and accusing the United States of conducting the “maneuver behind closed doors.”
In a filing on November 4, the lawyers revealed the tanker, which had been sold by the United States to GMS as a cash buyer, was resold on October 14 to a recycler in Bangladesh for $20,763,062.25, which they assert contradicts statements from the United States. It says the U.S. reported the GMS was not authorized under its license to transfer ownership of the ship and would retain the vessel while it was scrapped.
They are asserting that this was the latest in a series of steps in the illegal forfeiture and sale of the vessel to GMS at a “grossly unreasonable price at which to attempt the government's fire sale.” They highlight that the court was told in a filing in August that the ship tanker was sold under an April court order for $9.1 million, yielding proceeds of just under $8.1 million after more than $1 million in costs related to the sale. The U.S. Government further asserted that it had additional unspecified costs for “repairing serious safety and operational deficiencies, maintaining and transiting the vessel,” unrelated to the sale.
The court case for the forfeiture had been sealed until August 2026. Burevestmarin, however, filed in October, making a claim and seeking to overturn the sale. The United States in March had contended to the court that the tanker, which it continues to refer to as Bella 1, had been used dating back to at least 2023 to transport Venezuelan and Iranian oil in violation of sanctions. However, the U.S. says the vessel was stopped in January 2026 after the pursuit because it was operating without a valid flag. It says the ship was claiming to be registered in Guyana, although the authorities said it was not a legitimate registry.
The United States refused to recognize the sale of the vessel to Burevestmarin and the attempt to register the vessel in Russia while it was being pursued across the Atlantic. In the March filing for the forfeiture and sale, the United States lists a Turkish company as the owner of the tanker.
The United States has opposed Burevestmarin’s attempts to seek a temporary restraining order and compensation for the seizure. Burevestmarin was asking the court to hold the ship or force its return, not permitting it to be beached for scrapping. The United States, in its response, highlights that the company waited months to file its case, refutes the various elements of the claim, and asserts that the company came to court with “unclean hands,” saying it was involved in the vessel’s movements while it failed to respond to USCG orders to stop. The United States also points to what it calls a “threatening email” from representatives of Burevest sent in March 2026 to the company hired to tow the tanker, demanding the vessel be returned to the Russian Federation.
The lawyers for the company assert that the United States told the court alternately that the tanker was going to India or Bangladesh for scrapping. The vessel has not been transmitting an AIS position since mid-October.
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The lawyers are saying not only was the vessel sold at half its scrap value, but that it has far greater value as an operating asset. In the November 4 filing, they are again asking the court to stay any transfer of the vessel by GMS to a third party and to show cause why the vessel should not be preserved or held pending adjudication of the sale order’s validity.
The court has ordered the U.S. Justice Department to respond by Friday morning to the latest filing from Burevestmarin’s lawyers.
