Summary

The illicit gold trade encompasses a wide spectrum of illegal and often times harmful practices that occur across the gold supply chain – from the point of extraction to the integration of gold into global markets.

These practices often occur alongside financial, transnational, and environmental crimes. The illicit gold trade largely exists on a continuum, where legal, informal, and illegal flows are often interwoven. This blurred line complicates due diligence efforts and presents serious challenges for policymakers, financial institutions, and industry actors working to establish responsible sourcing and transparent supply chains and keep financial crime out of the gold industry.

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