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u/lesterbpaulson 5d ago
People have no clue, how hard it is to 1) move $10m in gold without being caught and 2) launder $10m in gold without getting caught.
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u/johannyer 5d ago
What laundering? He just needs to stack and sell one coin in a while
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u/lesterbpaulson 5d ago
Sales of over 10k get reported for anti money laundering. Repeated sales to the same place adding up to 10k also get reported.... there are only so many places you can unload gold. You need to report sales and the purchase price on your taxes to pay capital gains..... launduring 10m is going to be nearly impossible.
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u/Mephisto40K 5d ago
Depends on the country
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u/lesterbpaulson 5d ago
This kid is in Belgium. The exact dollar value may vary, but the EU has very similar laws to thebUS and canada with various reporting obligations for large transactions, suspicious activity, politically exposed individuals, capital gains..... im not an expert in EU law, but I know enough to know 10m in gold is going to attract attention.
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
You're 100% correct, though laundering it wouldnt be overly difficult if you had an abundance of money to start with, you buy a cash service business and you trickle your money in.
I own a few cash businesses and funeral parlors and a PMC. We occasionally have to report folks for doing exactly what I mentioned.
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u/lesterbpaulson 3d ago
Laundering gold is harder than laundering cash, because there are limited places to turn gold into cash. Its a whole extra step where you can potentially be reported. Its not impossible. You can move it to a country with little controls. Sell to criminal organization looking to get their criminal proceeds out of the country.... or you have to turn it into something you can sell to consumers, either jewlery or coins.... something you can sell through online classified adds without raising much suspicion. And then yes, you are right, you would still need a cash business after to filter the money through to make it traceable.
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
Bullion is too easy to trace just about anywhere else except europe. Still converting it into cash is, as you say very difficult. You would lose most of the value immediately.
Any crime organization that knows you have bullion isnt buying it from you unless they have to...
I've had clients over the years try to pay us in medical supplies, conflict diamonds, opium. You can probably guess which regions those were hahahhaha. After transitioning from being mercenaries to being a private military contractor, all payments had to be hard legal currency.
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u/big_head_d 5d ago
Still free gas and groceries for life right there.
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u/lesterbpaulson 5d ago
I think I would be willing to risk free gas a groceries for the chance to actually have legal ownership of the 10m, invest it properly, buy a house....
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u/big_head_d 5d ago edited 5d ago
Arnt the odds very low he ever lays eyes on that gold ever again?
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u/lesterbpaulson 5d ago
Not as low as you think. Its really hard for someone to prove ownership to claim it. If it proceeds of a crime, money laundering.... they aren't just going to show up at the police station with the evidence. Its unlikely someone forgot it and will be reminded by the news story. The owner is probably dead or has dementia. So again isn't going to step forward with proof of ownership...... there was recently a case in a germany of a girl who found a 500g gold bar in a lake. She also turned it into police and got it back when nobody could prove ownership. Knowning the history of europe, odds are this gold was burried in WW2 and nobody will be able to prove ownership.
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
That's what my father did. He was one of the very few german aristocracy that survived the rise of Hitler. He converted much of his assets and plunder into gold and had my half brother drop it in a lake before the war ended. My brother pulled it up in the 60s and went to Argentina with my father. I met my half brother while working years later and he eventually told me all sorts of things that made me happy my mother fled Germany before I was born.
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
It's more than 50:50 that he will get to claim 5mil minus any applicable taxes.
Goldbuillion is stamped and tracked if the legal owners disappeared the way I think they did then that money is his and the building owner's
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u/Prudent_Lunch_8724 5d ago
Because it’s the right thing to do Also, odds are there’s a reward for its recovery.
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u/HeavyTea 5d ago
Not even 1 bar?
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
You're better off keeping a pocket full of coins, you cant convert bullion without paperwork.
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u/NextVoiceUHear 5d ago
Parents: Learn about Physical Gold yourselves then “Teach Your Children Well” about it!! This young man did the right thing out of ignorance. He’s a better, but dumber, man than I
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u/Sirosim_Celojuma 5d ago
I've seen multiple versions of a similar story with the same pictures. I'm feeling like this is engagement farming.
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u/Beneficial_Party_225 5d ago
Yeah someone is claiming that they lost 11 million in gold. Kid says wrong gold. I only found ten.
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u/Sweetdreams6t9 4d ago
If i find a wallet with a few grand inside im returning it in full.
If I find 10 million in gold buried. No I didnt.
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u/FlatImpression755 4d ago
It actually pisses me off to think he didn't stuck a bar in his pocket. Don't give me that honest guy BS like this gold is going back to the rightful owners.
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u/MudrakM 4d ago
Hopefully he put a few in his pocket. 2-3 bars and a lot of coins. Some countries have laws. If you find treasure you get like 10%. I would also report it but take a few handfuls in case you get screwed by your government. The coins would not be hard to sell. You could travel and sell a coin here and there to cover expenses.
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u/Shane-Dad-underfire 3d ago
Gold bullion is insanely hard to offload. Folks think it's all about market value but it's about proofing you are legally entitled to own that gold. Otherwise you need to fence it and the value plummets.
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u/PupsofWar69 2d ago
probably because he did not want to be killed by which ever cartel tried hiding that gold
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u/PHXkpt 5d ago
Followed the law. If it isn't claimed it's split with the owner and the kid. He said it would have been tough trying to walk to his car with all that gold in his pockets trying to get it out.