Investigation details Curaçao’s central role in laundering Venezuelan gold

WILLEMSTAD--A major international investigation has placed Curaçao at the center of an alleged gold-laundering route that moved large volumes of Venezuelan Amazon-sourced gold into Europe, where it was refined and then entered global supply chains connected to major technology and automotive brands.

The investigation, published through reporting by IrpiMedia, Armando.Info, and OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), states that over 70 tonnes of gold largely sourced in Venezuela’s Amazon region were routed through Curaçao and then refined in Switzerland and Italy, ultimately reaching the supply chains of Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia.

According to the published findings, gold extracted from Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc, an area the investigation links to deforestation, mercury contamination, forced labor, and armed group control, was allegedly mislabeled as recycled “scrap” and shipped to Curaçao. From there, the gold was declared as a product of the Dutch Caribbean and transferred through a Swiss intermediary, PMS SA, before reaching the Argor-Heraeus refinery in Ticino Canton and, to a lesser extent, Italpreziosi in Arezzo.

Curacao’s unique position — geographically close to Venezuela and home to a free trade zone in Willemstad — made it a favored hub for intermediaries involved in these commercial movements. Documents show that a company based in Curacao, Curacao Precious Metals & Co (Cupremeco), was central to this flow. Although the island’s authorities in 2019 banned Venezuelan gold imports over concerns about crime and money-laundering links, records indicate that gold shipments continued to depart Curacao well before that prohibition.

Experts point out that Curacao’s status as a transit point for precious metals with no legitimate mining activity raised regulatory concerns. Alan Martin, director of ethical sourcing at the London Bullion Market Association, told investigators that the high volume of gold passing through Curacao could not be explained by lawful recycling activity alone.

The reporting describes Curaçao as a key “transit and relabeling” point in the chain, where Venezuelan-origin gold could move onward under documentation that presented it as Caribbean-origin material, enabling entry into European refining channels as “recycled” gold.

A central element of the investigation involves refinery documentation and forensic review. Armando.Info reports that OCCRP, IrpiMedia, and Armando.Info independently obtained 469 refining analyses issued by Argor-Heraeus to PMS, covering approximately 6.5 tonnes of refined gold, largely from 2016, with some records dating to 2014 and 2015. The data was assessed by multiple geology and forensic metallurgy experts, who concluded the material included a relevant fraction consistent with primary (doré) gold and showed geochemical characteristics compatible with deposits in Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc, challenging the claim that the gold was entirely recycled scrap.

The investigation frames the case as a warning about gaps in how “recycled gold” is defined and audited, arguing that weak points in due diligence and documentation can allow mined gold to be presented as recycled material, then refined and reintroduced into legitimate markets with new origin claims.

Reporting also notes that companies involved have disputed aspects of the allegations. Armando.Info states that Argor-Heraeus, through its lawyers, maintained that testing supported an absence of evidence for primary origin, while the investigation’s independent experts reached the opposite conclusion based on the documentation reviewed.

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