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How We Traced U.S. Government Gold to a Drug Cartel

26 April 2026 at 09:02
Three reporters followed supply chains to reveal that the U.S. Mint buys gold that comes from foreign pawn shops and drug dealers, then claims it is from the United States.

How Drug Cartel Gold Ends Up at the U.S. Mint

The U.S. Mint is legally required to sell only legal, domestic gold. Instead, it is the last link in a chain that launders foreign gold for an insatiable market. Our reporter Justin Scheck traced one such supply chain: from an illegal mine in Colombia all the way to the Mint’s facilities in West Point, N.Y.
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