"Conflict-Tainted Venezuelan Gold Entered World Market Through Caribbean Island, Documents Indicate", 05 March 2026

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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.

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But now OCCRP and partners have found evidence that not only the gold bars seized in Miami, but over 90 metric tons of additional gold that moved along the same route — from the island of Curaçao to major refineries in Europe and Turkey — was indeed largely sourced from Venezuela, according to invoices, bank statements, emails, refining certificates, and court depositions obtained by journalists.

At the time, Venezuela’s gold-mining industry was plagued by well-documented human rights abuses, corruption, and environmental destruction, and largely controlled by military elites. Because of this, gold from the country was widely considered problematic, and major refineries were expected to voluntarily disengage from supply chains that sourced from Venezuelan mines. ..

“Gold exploited in southern Venezuela is tainted by the most severe human rights abuses, including torture, summary executions, sexual violence and disappearances,” said Bram Ebus, a researcher with the International Crisis Group. “These wrongdoings have been widely documented and were known to industry actors.” 

But between 2012 and 2018, a single trading company in Curaçao funneled huge amounts of gold from Venezuela into Europe, declaring most of it as “scrap” even though its co-founder later claimed much of it originated in mines.

Much of this gold was ultimately sold to Argor-Heraeus, one of the world’s largest refiners, invoices show. 

Lawyers for Argor-Heraeus confirmed that much of the gold processed through this supply chain originated in Venezuela, but denied that it came from the country's problematic mines. 

"Argor-Heraeus has not processed any mined gold from Venezuela but only scrap gold,” they wrote. They said the refinery stopped importing Venezuelan gold in 2017.

There is no evidence that Argor-Heraeus violated any laws or regulations in this case, since Venezuelan gold was permitted to enter the global supply chain if it was declared as “scrap” or “recycled” gold. But experts say the case spotlights a critical oversight failure in the global bullion trade that persists today: it is relatively easy for suppliers and intermediaries to misrepresent freshly mined gold as scrap, and to obscure the real origin of gold shipments...

The findings raise questions about how much mined Venezuelan gold may have entered the global supply chain under the guise of scrap — finding its way into everyday products like mobile phones, laptops, and electric vehicles at devastating cost to the country’s indigenous lands.

Hundreds of U.S.-listed companies, including Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla, declared Argor-Heraeus was part of their gold supply chain during the period it was buying gold from Curaçao, according to their filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. (There is no suggestion companies purchasing from Argor-Heraeus knew, or should have known, about the origins of the gold it provided them. Apple and Tesla did not reply to requests for comment. Nvidia said: “We routinely review suppliers to ensure compliance with our responsible mineral policy and conduct due diligence to ensure our products are sourced responsibly.”)

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