UK Criminals Turn to Gold for Money Laundering, Cases Show 359.4 Million Laundered

Organized criminals in the UK are increasingly turning to gold as a means to launder and hide the proceeds of their illicit activities. This shift is driven by gold's portability, value, and lack of traceability, making it an attractive option for criminals seeking to conceal their earnings. The use of gold in money laundering has been highlighted by several recent cases, including an Essex drug dealer found with $32,425 worth of solid gold coins in 2024, a Birmingham gang that converted $135,100 of their profits into gold bars in 2022, and a Bradford gang that laundered nearly $359.4 million by purchasing gold grain, which is easier to conceal and was largely sent out of the country.

Legal consultant Gary Carroll explained that gold offers several advantages over cash for criminals. It allows them to reduce large sums of money into a small, easily concealable object. Additionally, gold tends to appreciate in value, making it a more stable store of wealth. Carroll also noted that the shift to a largely cashless society has contributed to the increased use of gold by criminals. However, the evidence of this trend is largely anecdotal, with reliable data on the use of precious metals by criminals being scarce or nonexistent.

Ari Redbord, the Global Head of Policy and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, acknowledged that the criminal use of gold could be increasing but emphasized the difficulty in quantifying this trend due to gold's opaque nature. He noted that gold does not move on a blockchain, making it harder to track. Redbord also pointed out that while gold has long been a preferred tool for money laundering due to its portability, value, and untraceability, it is also heavy, hard to transport in large quantities, and risky. In contrast, cryptocurrencies can move instantly across borders but are usually traceable unless mixers or privacy coins are involved. TRM Labs assists law enforcement agencies in tracking crypto flows, recovering stolen funds, and dismantling networks, a task that is more challenging with gold.

Despite the surge in the use of crypto among criminals, with illicit addresses receiving up to $51.3 billion in crypto last year, gold will likely continue to play a role in money laundering. The convergence of stores of value used by criminals, as seen in the 2016 Bitfinex case where hackers bought gold bars to launder stolen crypto proceeds, highlights the ongoing appeal of gold for criminal activities. Government reporting, such as Treasury's national risk assessments, has also pointed to gold as a method for evading sanctions and laundering proceeds from corruption or drug trafficking. This underscores the enduring appeal of gold as a tool for money laundering, despite the rise of cryptocurrencies.