Father and son charged with evading millions in taxes on smuggled gold to Miami

In Guyana, Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed have long been members of the South American country’s business elite, making a fortune in gold trading and other dealings.

They have exported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of gold over the years, using Miami as a hub to smuggle the precious metal to Dubai in the Middle East, U.S. authorities say.

But now the law has caught up with Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin, an elected member of parliament in Guyana: Both have been charged in Miami federal court with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

They’re accused of conspiring to ship at least 10,000 kilos of gold through Miami without paying Guyanese taxes and royalties between 2017 and 2024, according to an indictment filed last week. Prosecutors in Miami say the loss to Guyana’s government totals $50 million.

Both father and son face possible extradition to Miami on the 11-count corruption indictment, once U.S. authorities formally make the request, Guyana’s attorney general said this week.

According to the federal indictment, here’s how the father and son carried out their alleged gold-export scheme:

Under Guyanese law, the government imposes a 2% export tax and a 5% royalty tax on the value of gold shipped abroad. Once those taxes are paid, wholesalers obtain government seals allowing the exportation of gold from Guyana.

The Mohameds, who did business with a handful of shipping companies in Miami, “set up a system” whereby they would pay taxes and royalties in Guyana on one load of gold and obtain the appropriate government seals and customs declarations.

Reused government seals: feds

But then, they would “reuse the same” seals for subsequent shipments so their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, could avoid paying taxes and royalties to the Guyanese government, according to the indictment.

Four Miami shipping companies, which are not named in the indictment, coordinated the family’s gold exports via Miami to Dubai, among the world’s importation capitals of gold.

As part of the scheme, the Mohameds arranged to have empty wooden boxes with intact Guyanese seals shipped from gold buyers in Dubai to Miami, according to the indictment. Then, they arranged to have those empty boxes with government seals shipped from Miami to their office in Guyana.

The Mohameds “reused empty boxes with intact seals for shipments of gold to make it appear that” their company “had paid Guyana taxes and royalties on shipments of gold when, in truth and in fact, Mohamed’s Enterprise had not paid them,” according to the indictment, filed by federal prosecutors Michael Berger and Jil Simon.

Both father and son are accused of paying “bribes” to Guyanese customs officials so they would accept shipments of gold by Mohamed’s Enterprise with “duplicate paperwork and reused seals” to avoid the proper payment of export taxes and royalties, the indictment says.

The Mohameds “used proceeds of the conspiracy for their own person benefit,” the indictment says.

Faked invoice for Lambo: feds

For example, the son, Azruddin Mohamed, bought a Lamborghini for $680,000 from a dealer in California with gold-export profits and then arranged to have the luxury Italian sportscar transported to Miami and then to Guyana. But the son is accused of directing an intermediary who bought the Lamborghini to fabricate an invoice saying it only cost $75,300, the indictment says.

The reason: Guyanese tax authorities charges taxes and duties of more than 100% on ceretain luxury vehicles imported into the country. By falsely decreasing the cost of his Lamborghini on the invoice, the son was able to avoid paying more than $1 million in taxes that he owed to Guyanaese authorities, the indictment says.

In his first public comments since the indictment, Azruddin Mohamed cast blame this week on his political opponents, saying “this is not just a personal attack, this is political, this is a fear tactic,” according to the Associated Press.

The indictment is just the latest accusation against the businessman turned politician, whose has made millions off gold trading, currency exchanges and oil dealings. The son has flaunted his wide collection of luxury sportscars on his social media, the AP reported.

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed, his father, Nazar, and their family business for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilograms of gold to the U.S. from Guyana while evading more than $50 million in taxes — a harbinger of the indictment filed in Miami last week.

Treasury officials said they were able to do so, in part, because of “extensive bribery schemes involving government officials in Guyana.”