The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently announced the sanctions of four companies and one person who were involved with PMC Wagner (Wagner Group) and the group’s founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin.
The Russian military group is known for its violence and criminal acts done around the world, according to a June 27 Treasury news release.
“The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the news release. “The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group’s revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine and anywhere else.”
The Wagner Group and Prigozhin were previously targeted by sanctions from the U.S., European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom, the release reported. The group reportedly takes advantage of unrest around the world by perpetrating crimes and atrocities that endanger national security, democratic government, prosperity and human rights while also plundering natural resources.
While the targeted individual has played a key role in the activities of Wagner Group units, the targeted entities in the Central African Republic, United Arab Emirates and Russia have engaged in illegal gold dealings to finance the Wagner Group’s armed forces including those in Africa, as well as Ukraine, according to the release.
In parallel, a fresh advisory on the sub-Saharan African gold market was released by the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, Labor, Commerce and Homeland Security as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the release said. The hazards associated with the gold trade are highlighted in this advisory, including financing of armed conflict and terrorism, money laundering, violating sanctions, violating labor and human rights and environmental degradation.
A mining business with a basis in the Central African Republic called Midas Ressources SARLU (Midas) is reportedly connected to Prigozhin, the release said. Midas continues to be the owner of mining concessions and permits for prospecting and extracting minerals, precious and semi-precious metals and jewels in the Central African Republic.
The Central African Republic's Ndassima gold mine, which experts estimate contains gold worth more than $1 billion, continues to be mined preferentially by Midas. In addition, Midas and the Wagner Group were in charge of preventing Central African Republic government representatives from visiting the Ndassima mine, according to the release.
Diamville SAU is a company based in the Central African Republic, run by Prigozhin, which purchases gold and diamonds, the release said. In 2022, the company was involved in a scheme that converted gold into U.S. dollars. They also shipped diamonds mind in the Central African Republic to buyers in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.
Industrial Resources General Trading is a Dubai-based industrial goods distributor that was supported financially by Prigozhin through Diamville, the release reported. In 2022, the company received diamonds mined in the Central African Republic and sold by Diamville. They were also reportedly involved in a gold selling scheme and have transferred cash to Russia.
Limited Liability Company DM is a firm from Russia involved in the gold selling schemes as well, according to the release.
