Wyden letter cites well-documented ties between terrorist organizations and Venezuelan mines supplying gold for sale in United States
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today wrote to Trafigura, a Singapore-based multinational commodities trading company that recently signed a deal to purchase vast quantities of gold from Venezuela for sale and distribution in the United States, demanding answers about what due diligence, if any, the company performed to ensure it was complying with U.S. sanctions prohibiting the sale of gold from mines controlled by terrorist organizations.
“Corruption, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses such as forced labor are rampant within the Venezuelan mining industry, much of which is closely linked to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. Department of State,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Richard Holtum, Chief Executive Officer of Trafigura Ltd. “Amid recent reports of the first shipment of gold arriving to the United States, I request information to further our understanding of Trafigura’s human rights due diligence and anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing compliance in signing this agreement as well as further details about Trafigura’s purported efforts to develop a “responsible gold-sourcing program” in Venezuela.”
Earlier this year it was reported that Trafigura had agreed to purchase up to 1,000 kilograms of gold to be processed and sold in the United States, from the Venezuelan state-owned mining firm, Minerven. In 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury formally sanctioned Minerven for operating in a sector used to finance known terrorist organizations and sustain the corrupt regime of Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro. Minerven has a well-documented history of corruption, human rights abuses, and extensive environmental degradation.
The deal was brokered by officials in the Trump administration, including Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Doug Burgum, who reportedly traveled to Venezuela last month to discuss business agreements with the Venezuelan government.
Wyden’s letter seeks details from Trafigura concerning the structure of the agreement, compliance safeguards, and protections against public corruption and human rights abuses, noting potential violation of U.S. counter-terrorism financing requirements.
The full letter to Trafigura is here.
A web version of this release is here.
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