Yanomami Genocide: Illegal gold scheme involves millionaire companies accused of environmental crime and money laundering in Pará state

A joint investigation by the Federal Police and the Federal Public Prosecution revealed that financial institutions accused of environmental crimes in the Amazon and gold laundering in Pará state bought illegal Yanomami gold, according to a story in Reporter Brasil. Companies with million-dollar billings and headquarters in prime neighborhoods of the São Paulo capital are accused of participating in a scheme that may have legalized, in 2019 and 2020, more than 4 tons of illegal gold from several indigenous lands in the Amazon, according to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office. Three of these intermediaries – Ourominas, FD’Gold and Carol – appear in the investigations into mining on Yanomami Indigenous Land.

As a result of these investigations, the Federal Police launched on Tuesday (February 28) “Operation Kukuanaland”, which aims to identify and dismantle a criminal organization dedicated to the illegal extraction of gold from indigenous reserves and federal conservation units, to its commercialization, export and money laundering.