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2/ These findings closely align what we uncovered (and others revealed before us) in an investigation I worked on for @irpimedia.eu and @occrp.org . Leaked documents showed how tainted Venezuelan gold passed through controls at one of Europe’s most prestigious refineries.

3/ What emerges is not just a set of isolated loopholes, but a decades-long systemic failure: • Controls rely heavily on paperwork that can be forged or recycled • Traces of illegal mining (like mercury) can be removed • Gold is quickly relabeled and “cleaned” through a few transactions

4/ Once gold is certified as “legal” on paper, the entire downstream chain treats it as compliant. Very few actors question it further. Plausible deniability is built into the system as everyone can point to documents, certifications, or standards.

5/ Borders add another layer of opacity. By the time gold reaches market, its origin are effectively rewritten. To the buyers' eyes, the precious metal is “made in the U.S.” or “made in Switzerland.”

27/4/26, 6:09 pm0 reposts0 likes

6/ What stood out most in this work wasn’t only the scale (a multi-billion dollar market tied to environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and criminal finance), but how normalized and under-scrutinized these mechanisms are.