U.S. Treasury Bought Colombian Cartel Gold as Bogota Sought Blacklist of Illegal Trade
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 2
U.S. Treasury Bought Colombian Cartel Gold as Bogota Sought Blacklist of Illegal Trade
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 2
Years of Treasury gold purchases included metal from Colombia’s illegal mining sector, with some ending up in U.S. Mint Lady Liberty coins, even as Washington had already blacklisted Clan del Golfo leaders.
Early this year, Colombia’s defense minister asked the Trump administration to sanction illegal gold dealers, saying the trade finances Clan del Golfo, a cartel the U.S. has designated a terrorist group.
The United States has not acted on that request, exposing weak oversight across the supply chain from Colombian mines to U.S. buyers.
Hundreds of square miles in Colombia have been torn up by illicit mining, which authorities have struggled to stop as criminals paid cartel leaders and even pushed onto a military base.