PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________ No. 20-2040 _____________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. NIKOLAOS VASTARDIS, Appellant ______________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (No. 1-19-cr-00066-001) District Judge: Honorable Richard G. Andrews ______________ Argued on May 27, 2021 ______________ Before: McKEE, RESTREPO, FUENTES, Circuit Judges. (Opinion Filed: December 7, 2021) Edward S. MacColl [Argued] Marshall J. Tinkle Thompson, MacColl & Bass LLC, P.A. 15 Monument Square Portland, ME 04101 Bruce M. Merrill Law Offices of Bruce Merrill, P.A. 225 Commercial St. Suite 501 Portland, ME 04101 Counsel for Appellant Varu Chilakamarri [Argued] Amelia G. Yowell Eric Grant Jonathan D. Brightbill Jennifer Scheller Neumann Thekla Hansen-Young Richard A. Udell Environmental Natural Resources Division U.S. Department of Justice P.O. Box 7415 Washington, D.C. 20044 Counsel for Appellee 2 ______________ OPINION OF THE COURT ______________ FUENTES, Circuit Judge. This case requires us to determine whether the United States lacks prosecutorial authority over the presentation of falsified records to U.S. officials and other related deception that occurred while a defendant was docked in the Delaware Bay port because the crimes sought to be covered up were committed on the high seas. We hold that, although Vastardis cannot be convicted in a U.S. Court for crimes occurring in international waters, the convictions here were based on the presence of inaccurate records in U.S. waters. Accordingly, the District Court had subject matter jurisdiction even though the actual entries may have been made beyond the jurisdiction of the United States while on the high seas. Nikolaos Vastardis, a citizen and resident of the Republic of Greece, appeals his conviction and sentence for crimes that allegedly took place while he was Chief Engineer onboard a Liberian-registered petroleum tanker named the Evridiki. Vastardis was convicted of four offenses related to maritime pollution: failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book from December 8, 2018 to March 11, 2019 in violation of 33 U.S.C. § 1908(a) (Count 1); falsifying high-seas Oil Record Book entries in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1519 (Count 2); obstructing justice in the Coast Guard’s investigation of the Evridiki in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1505 (Count 3); and making false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (Count 4). The District Court imposed a 3 $7,500 fine, a $400 special assessment, and three years’ probation. As a condition of probation, Vastardis was barred from entering the United States or applying for any visas to enter the United States. For the following reasons, we will affirm the convictions. However, we will vacate the portion of the District Court’s sentence that precludes Vastardis from entering the United States while under court supervision. I. INTERNATIONAL TREATIES ON MARITIME POLLUTION The United States is a signatory to the 1973 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships1 and the Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.2 Both treaties relate to pollution on the high …
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