LoginU.S. Was Asked to Blacklist Colombian Cartel Gold. It Was Also Buying It.
2 June 2026 at 09:00
The request for sanctions, from Colombia’s defense minister, shows failures at both ends of the supply chain for illegal gold.
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How a Times Reporter Found Cartel Gold at the Royal Canadian Mint
16 May 2026 at 10:00
A conversation with Justin Scheck, who found that illegal Colombian gold transformed into legal North American gold through bureaucratic sleights of hand, and ended up in Canada.
How We Traced U.S. Government Gold to a Drug Cartel
28 April 2026 at 16:36
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.
U.S. Mint Buys Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as ‘American’
27 April 2026 at 13:34
As prices for the precious metal soar, the industry’s guardrails have broken down.
Canada Says Its Gold Is Traceable and Clean. So We Traced It.
27 April 2026 at 11:04
We ended up in a Colombian mine controlled by a drug cartel.
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NYT > Colombia
- What Happened After The New York Times Found a Cartel Mine on a Colombian Military Base
What Happened After The New York Times Found a Cartel Mine on a Colombian Military Base
26 April 2026 at 09:50
Officers denied that an illegal, large-scale gold operation was underway within earshot of their posts. But we had seen it with our own eyes.
How Drug Cartel Gold Ends Up at the U.S. Mint
28 April 2026 at 19:18
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.
