The U.S. Mint has been selling gold coins stamped with American icons like the bald eagle while secretly sourcing much of that gold from foreign mines linked to drug cartels, environmental destruction, and authoritarian regimes. A New York Times investigation found the Mint purchases gold from Colombian cartel-controlled mines, including operations run by the Clan del Golfo, despite federal law requiring all bullion to come from newly mined American sources.

Congress prohibited the Mint from using foreign gold in 1985 to prevent human rights abuses, but the agency has ignored that law across Democratic and Republican administrations. Records show additional foreign gold originated from Mexican and Peruvian pawn shops, a Congolese mine partially owned by the Chinese government, and a Honduran company that dug up an Indigenous graveyard. The Mint initially denied the findings before acknowledging the U.S. is merely its "primary" source.

The Mint sells over $1 billion annually in investment-grade gold coins. With prices hovering around $5,000 an ounce—roughly four times a decade ago—criminal organizations have powerful incentives to mine destructively. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would investigate the procurement practices.