A fascinating, long read, by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project on Venezuela gold.
The Caribbean island of Curaçao has no natural gold deposits. So why did dozens of tons of gold refined at a prestigious Swiss refinery come from the island? The evidence points to their origin in conflict areas in Venezuela — and the case highlights weaknesses in gold industry rules and standards that experts say persist today.
Key Findings
- Around 70 metric tons of Venezuelan gold worth more than $2.2 billion was funnelled through the Caribbean island of Curaçao before being refined in Switzerland between 2012 and 2018, according to invoices, bank records, refining results, court depositions and emails obtained by OCCRP and partners.
- Argor-Heraeus, one of the world’s largest gold refineries, which processed the metal, says it came from recycled sources like scrap jewellery, which are unaffected by conflict. But experts who reviewed the refiner’s own smelting results said its chemical footprint indicates some of the material came from mines.
- An upstream supplier of the gold testified in court that the complex supply chain bringing it to Switzerland was designed to bypass the refiner’s compliance processes.
- Global tech giants including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia later bought the refined product from Argor-Heraeus, raising questions about how much mined Venezuelan gold from conflicted-affected areas may have found its way into everyday products like mobile phones, laptops, and electric vehicles.
Read the full report here.