WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals have hired Jason Sinnarajah from the Kansas City Royals to become their president of business operations.
Sinnarajah will oversee all business-related aspects of the Nationals in his new role. He had been working as the Royals’ senior vice president and chief operating officer.
Nationals officials said Sinnarajah revitalized the stadium experience by implementing fan entry technology and reimagining the concessions program during his time with the Royals.
“Jason is a transformative leader with a proven track record of using data and innovation to enhance the fan experience and drive organizational excellence,” Nationals managing principal owner Mark D. Lerner said in a statement. “By creating the President of Business Operations role, we are ensuring that our business strategy is as modern and forward-thinking as our baseball strategy. We believe Jason is the ideal person to lead the Nationals into a bright future.”
Sinnarajah is the latest new hire in a Nationals front office that recently added Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations and Anirudh Kilambi as general manager.
Before joining the Royals, Sinnarajah was the Buffalo Bills’ senior vice president of business administration from 2023. He also has worked with the Cleveland Guardians and at Google.
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FILE - Fans cast shadows past a Washington Nationals logo as they walk in to Space Coast Stadium for an exhibition spring training baseball game March 5, 2015, in Viera, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, officials said Wednesday.
U.S. European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 for “violations of U.S. sanctions” in a social media post. The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.
Then, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revealed that U.S. forces also took control of the tanker Sophia in the Caribbean. Noem said in a social media post both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it."
Noem said that both ships are part of a large “ghost fleet” of sanctioned vessels that carry oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela in defiance of Western sanctions, mostly to customers in Asia.
The Trump administration is “selectively” removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of Venezuelan oil to markets worldwide, according to an outline of the policies published Wednesday by the Energy Department.
The two ship seizures come just days after U.S. military forces conducted a surprise nighttime raid on Venezuela’s capital of Caracas and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, whom President Donald Trump's administration has accused of partnering with drug traffickers.
Since that raid, officials in Trump’s Republican administration have said that they intend to continue to seize sanctioned vessels connected to the country.
“We are enforcing American laws with regards to oil sanctions,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC on Sunday. “We go to court. We get a warrant. We seize those boats with oil. And that will continue.”
The U.S. military seized the Bella 1 and subsequently handed over control of it to law enforcement officials, said a U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
The ship was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
It was cruising across the Atlantic nearing the Caribbean on Dec. 15 when it abruptly turned and changed its heading north, toward Europe. The change in direction came days after the first U.S. tanker seizure of a ship called the Skipper, on Dec. 10, after it had left Venezuela carrying a cargo of oil.
The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused boarding and headed across the Atlantic. U.S. European Command confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro tracked the ship ahead of its seizure “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court" in a social media post.
During this time, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. The U.S. official also confirmed that the ship’s crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.
Earlier Wednesday, open-source maritime tracking sites showed its position as between Scotland and Iceland, traveling north. The U.S. official also confirmed the ship was in the North Atlantic.
Flight tracking websites showed several U-28A U.S. special operations aircraft landing at Wick John O’Groats airport on the northern tip of Scotland, before flying further north toward Iceland on Wednesday. P8 Poseidon submarine-hunting aircraft and KC-135 refueling planes were also seen on tracking websites, heading to the area near the tanker.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said before the seizure that it was “following with concern the anomalous situation that has developed around the Russian oil tanker Marinera.”
Immediately following news of the seizure, Russia’s Ministry of Transport confirmed the boarding in a statement and noted that "no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states,” citing the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Maduro appeared in court this week in New York, where he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty to the federal drug trafficking charges the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela. Maduro’s lawyer said he expects to contest the legality of his “military abduction.”
Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington, contributed to this report.
A local walks past a mural featuring oil pumps and wells in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A government supporter holds an image of President Nicolas Maduro during a women's march to demand his return in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, three days after U.S. forces captured him and his wife. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
