U.S. Mint Buys Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as ‘American’ (Gift Article)

“A Colombian lawyer for the cartel did not return a call for comment.” Thats straight from the onion

Surprising Trump didnt confiscate it for himself since he loves gold or will he take the proceeds!!

nothing says freedom like laundering cartel gold into liberty coins.

If I was any country that owned gold in US vaults I'd be gtfo yesterday 

Yay... I guess the US is now into money laundering....

> U.S. Mint ~~Buys~~ *Launders* Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as ‘American’ (Gift Article) Fixed that for 'em.

So the US is just happily associating with all the baddies now, eh? Bad countries, criminal enterprises; I'm guessing any/all terrorists too at this point. It's *very clear* who is the new "Axis of Evil".

"Each is stamped with an icon like the bald eagle, signifying the government’s guarantee, required by law, that the gold is 100 percent American." This is the entire crux of the article, but it evidently is not the case. Here is the law: "(3) The Secretary shall acquire gold for the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title by purchase of gold mined from natural deposits in the United States, or in a territory or possession of the United States, within one year after the month in which the ore from which it is derived was mined. The Secretary shall pay not more than the average world price for the gold. *In the absence of available supplies of such gold at the average world price, the Secretary may use gold from reserves held by the United States* to mint the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title. The Secretary shall issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph”. "gold from reserves held by the United States" just means gold that we have. These reserves are not asserted to be freshly mined gold from the US. They are just gold, from whatever source. So this law isn't a "guarantee" the gold is 100% sourced in the US, what it is, is a gimme to the mining industry that the government must preferentially buy from them if they are willing to sell at the market price. This is the NYT, and I am not a lawyer and not a professional fact checker like they have, so I wish they could rebut this. As it stands, it seems like the main point of the article is the US is trading in gold that is "dirty" because of its origin. But unless you're going to continuously police the gold trade from ore to ingots, it would seemingly be trivial to circumvent any law about where gold can come from. It's an atomic element, it can be melted and mixed to obscure any trace remnants that might identify its source.

"The easier it is to sell this gold on the world’s legitimate exchanges, the easier it is to make war, sustain an autocracy, launder money or destroy the environment." The Trumps Administrations favorite things. I doubt they will be the ones to even consider putting any kind of oversight to where the US gets its gold from.

There's your stupid war on drugs. Meanwhile Mexico is suffering from the violence of the cartels, product of the US consumption, and also the war on drugs they forced on us back in the 2010s.

Turns out "tough on crime" was a typo all along. Tough in crime is what republicans meant.

MAGA: “Kill all drug cartels!” Also MAGA: buys stuff from drug cartels

Is this really news? What’s the next headline “U.S. Sells Guns To Drug Cartels/Terrorist organization.” ?

Most American headline I’ve read today

Then there's the gold moved from Venezuela.

So the U.S. fences gold for drug cartels.

This was probably how the cartels made change when they bought billions in cocaine with all the Venezuela oil money. The depths these dipshit losers are sinking this country to are literally unfathomable

You’d be surprised how common it is for the US mint and honestly the entire gold industry to buy illegal gold. All of the firms are trading “blood gold” and even in the most egregious cases the guys only get like a month in county. The gold industry doesn’t care at all about ethics and it’s an open secret.

Stealing wealth from other sounds American to me. 

Nothing is more American than selling robbed goods. 

Being the Government and buying, then selling, drug money seems like the most American type of thing, honestly.

I mean they do it with the oil they stole from Venezuela. Every terrorist state those this, why is this surprising to anyone?

DOJ blatantly allowing illegal actions.

Another day, another grift.

this isn't even that big of a deal. special forces have been dealing drugs with cartels for decades... they even train cartel members in operations and combat technique.

Those Trump coins need gold after all [1]. [1] Federal law prohibits living people being featured in coins

I don't see where the logic gap is. What's the problem? The United States is responsible for every functioning cartel after 1953. That gold is as American as all the crack in inner city neighborhoods in the 80's.

Most of us regular folk can only afford ~~drug cartel~~ silver. And that spiked in price too.

None of that commie gold. Just good ol’ American capitalist gold.

I'd recommend testing any precious metals bought from the government under this administration 

Which is worth more per ounce gold or pure cocaine? Not cut cocaine pure cocaine.

“Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal corporate sponsored dictators AROUND THE WORLD!”

American cash —> cartels —> cartel gold —> America —> American cash

Wait wait i thought we were getting rid of all the bad drug people !!!! /s

Not surprised at all. And that gold is probably colombian.

No corruption to see here folks…keep moving along.

Bummer for the suckers who paid the premium price per oz of overminted AGEs or Buffalo with their false marketing claim of fresh 'Murican gold. As a collector of old Mexican pesos and Libertads, i am chuckling.

They switched from cocaine to forcing people to mine gold from water sources under threat of execution

I'm surprised they actually bought it and didn't steal it like the oil.

You know, I never examined the possibility that things are so off the rails, so out-of-the-blue, banana pants eat your own shit crazy actual reality could be. I don’t know what I could do differently if I had.

They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison Oh Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids I buy my crack, I smack my b**** Right here in Hollywood Nearly two million Americans are incarcerated In the prison system, prison system of the U.S. They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison For you and me to live in Another prison system Another prison system Another prison system For you and me Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich I buy my crack, I smack my b**** Right here in Hollywood The percentage of Americans in the prison system Prison system has doubled since 1985 They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison For you and me to live in Another prison system Another prison system Another prison system For you and me For you and I, you and I, you and I, you and I They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison for you and me Oh, baby, you and me Oh, oh All research and successful drug policy Shows that treatment should be increased Oh And law enforcement decreased While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences Oh All research and successful drug policy Shows that treatment should be increased Oh And law enforcement decreased While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world Drugs are now your global policy, now you police the globe I buy my crack, my smack my b**** Right here in Hollywood Drug money is used to rig elections and train brutal Corporate sponsored dictators around the world They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison They're tryna' build a prison For you and me to live in Another prison system Another prison system Another prison system For you and me For you and I, you and I, you and I, you and me They're tryna build a prison They're tryna build a prison They're tryna build a prison for you and me Oh, baby, you and me

NGL that is the most American thing I have seen in a while.

This reminds me of the fact that Coca Cola is still able to flavor their products with coca leaf because our government runs a facility in New Jersey that takes the cocaine out of the leaf. 🤔 Edit: 😳

With the current administration am surprised dental gold from graves isn't showing up...

So The Beast In Me on Netflix but in real life

Wow how very inclusive of them! /s Edit:/s

I'm more *gold is five grand an ounce!? WTF happened? How do I not already know this?*

>The Mint has said, in response to internal audits, that its gold counts as American because its suppliers offset any foreign gold with American gold. If the Mint buys a ton of gold, for example, it expects the supplier to buy that much American gold at some point. U.S. law makes no allowance for this kind of trade-off. And for decades, the Mint has not enforced that provision or even asked its suppliers to comply, the Treasury’s inspector general found.

Yeah, probably buys gold mined by ISIS in the DRC, etc., too. Not exactly news, but I guess not a bad reminder.

I wish they still ran stories like this on news shows such as Dateline and 20/20.

"Gold comes from the core of the earth"

Well once it buys the gold doesn't it become American gold? /S

been doing it for so long. us foundries only care enough to now break major laws

So that's why he flew in those drug kingpins.

That's so American they should make 4th of July banners of it to sell at Dollar Tree. 

“Colombia’s biggest cartel, the Clan del Golfo, traffics in gold alongside cocaine […] Illegal miners deforest and pollute the Amazon, poisoning people there with mercury.” Can we invest in pressed coins of eco-friendly marching powder instead?