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Tainted Gold: Mined in Venezuela, Routed to Global Markets Via Curaçao
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| March 6, 2026 Greetings from Amsterdam, A warm welcome to our new readers this week from the European Commission, Deutsche Bank, the Center for a New American Security, UK tax authority, and many others! Thanks for joining this community. The gold industry has long had a labeling problem: Gold declared as “scrap” doesn’t face the same level of scrutiny as metal freshly dug out of the ground. Experts say it’s a loophole that allows the origins of gold extracted in conflict areas to be easily obscured by traders, and later approved by the regulator as conflict-free. In our latest investigation, we unpacked one such case, with new evidence gathered by reporters revealing how gold mined in parts of Venezuela controlled by a combination of Colombian guerrillas, criminal syndicates, and military units may have slipped into the gold supply chain used by major tech companies.This was made possible by a crucial transit stop: the Caribbean island nation of Curaçao. Between 2012 and 2018, a trading company in Curaçao funneled more than $2.2 billion worth of gold – much of it from Venezuela – into refineries in Europe, declaring most of it as scrap, even though one of the company’s co-founders later claimed much of it originated in Venezuelan mines.“Whether it comes from [a] mine or comes from a poor guy’s teeth, I don’t know,” another of the company’s co-founders told OCCRP and partners.The gold was sold through another intermediary to the major Swiss refinery Argor-Heraeus, which forms part of the supply chain of major U.S. tech companies. There is no evidence Argor-Heraeus violated any laws or regulations, since it was only required by its regulator, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), to conduct due diligence on its immediate supplier, another Swiss company. Part of the problem is that the LBMA still does not require these refiners to provide full disclosure of all their upstream suppliers, including mines of origin.This raises questions about how much gold from conflicted-affected areas is continuing to find its way into everyday products — like the one you’re using to read this newsletter.  The analysis above is a free preview of our upcoming OCCRP PRO membership, a new offering tailored to professionals who rely on our investigations for work in finance, law, compliance, risk management, policy, and related fields. Interested to learn more? Let us know and tell us what you need! Your feedback will directly shape the services we |
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