Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Trump’s DOJ Seeks 7 Years in Prison for Flamboyant MAGA ex-Rep. George Santos

Headline USA Editor
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Trump’s DOJ Seeks 7 Years in Prison for Flamboyant MAGA ex-Rep. George Santos

(Headline USA) Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued in a court filing Friday that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican’s “unparalleled crimes” had “made a mockery” of the country’s election system.

“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” the office wrote.

Prosecutors also argued that Santos had been “unrepentant and defiant” for years, dismissing the prosecution as a “witch hunt” and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked.

They said his claims of remorse after pleading guilty “ring hollow” and suggested he has a “high likelihood of reoffending” given he has not forfeited any of his ill-gotten gains or repaid any of his victims.

Santos’ lawyers, in an email to The Associated Press, dismissed the seven-year proposal as “absurd and unfounded,” saying it appears “designed to beat up on a man that already took full responsibility for his actions.”

In their own sentencing memo Friday, they rejected the notion that Santos will fall back into criminal behavior, noting he has no prior criminal record and also provides “crucial” support to his sister and her young daughter.

They argued for a two-year prison term, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft.

The lawyers maintain such a sentence is in line with those handed to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and other political figures facing similar financial crimes.

They also touted Santos’ cooperation in a separate federal investigation into a Texas man who tried to dupe Santos out of nearly $1 million by posing as a political fixer offering to destroy evidence in his cases.

“This sentence, coupled with the significant collateral consequences Mr. Santos has already suffered—including the loss of his congressional seat and public humiliation — would send a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated,” the lawyers wrote.

A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to decide Santos’ sentence during a court hearing April 25.

The once-rising Republican, who represented parts of Queens and Long Island, served barely a year in office before he was ousted by his House colleagues in 2023, just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber’s history.

During his time in Congress, Santos earned a 100% conservative rating from Heritage Action, the PAC of the Heritage Foundation. His ouster diminished the already slim Republican majority, further empowering Democrats.

Santos’ political demise came after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign.

The now-36-year-old cast himself as a wealthy businessman who had graduated from top colleges, worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio. In truth, he was struggling financially and faced eviction.

Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his congressional campaign.

He was initially due to be sentenced in February, but a judge granted him a three-month reprieve to come up with more than half a million dollars in court fines.

As part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture.

Santos’ lawyers said at the time that he had little more than $1,000 in liquid assets and needed more time to build his newly launched podcast “Pants on Fire” in order to begin paying off the debt.

Prosecutors maintain Santos profited handsomely from his infamy, arguing he has earned more than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing website Cameo and from a new documentary since his expulsion from Congress.

Two of Santos’ campaign staffers have also pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to the campaign financing scheme.

Sam Miele, his former campaign fundraiser, was sentenced in March to one year and one day in federal prison. He admitted to impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide and charging donors’ credit cards without authorization while raising campaign cash for Santos.

Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, admitted to filing bogus campaign finance reports filled with fake donors and a fake $500,000 personal loan from Santos himself.

The embellishments helped the campaign hit fundraising thresholds needed to qualify for financial backing from the national Republican Party. Marks is due to be sentenced in May.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press



Mayorkas Chickens Out When Pressed About His Open Border Policies

Luis Cornelio
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Mayorkas Chickens Out When Pressed About His Open Border Policies

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas went radio silent this week when confronted by Blaze correspondent Julio Rosas about his immigration policies—long slammed by Republicans as open borders. 

Rosas spotted Mayorkas and his wife, Tanya Mayorkas, at Reagan National Airport. While the former secretary was initially polite, he clammed up the moment he realized Rosas had real questions.

“I just wanted to ask you how it feels to see that the United States has a secure border now that President Trump is in office, as opposed to when you were secretary of Homeland Security?” Rosas asked. 

Expanding on his questions, he continued, “Do you have any regret facilitating open borders, sir? It was a big issue, sir. That’s one of the reasons why President Trump won re-election. You don’t have anything to say about it?” 

The confrontation came just months after Mayorkas left office in disgrace, becoming the first cabinet member to be impeached since 1876. 

The House of Representatives charged Mayorkas with high crimes and misdemeanors over his handling of the border. 

During his tenure, millions of illegal aliens flooded the southern border—with even more funneled in through dubious parole programs.  

Some of these illegal aliens went on to commit horrific crimes, including the murder of Laken Riley. 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was brutally killed by José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal alien.  

In another case, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was raped and murdered—allegedly by two Venezuelan nationals, Johan José Martínez-Rangel and Franklin José Peña Ramos. 

Mayorkas’s DHS also lost track of more than 300,000 migrant children smuggled into the country. The children were placed in the care of the DHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement but effectively vanished from the agency’s radar under Biden’s watch. 

“Do you have regret about losing track of all of those thousands of migrant children?” Rosas asked. Mayorkas said nothing. 

Rosas pressed further: “How does it feel that because of the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, mass deportation has actually gained majority support? Sir, Tren de Aragua didn’t have a foothold in the United States before you guys came into office. It’s a pretty big issue, right?” 

Russell Brand Charged w/ Rape and Sexual Assault

Maire Clayton
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Russell Brand Charged w/ Rape and Sexual Assault

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Comedian Russell Brand has been charged with a series of rape and sexual assault charges Friday, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The investigation originally began in September 2023 with the events in question dating back over 25 years, according to the New York Post.

The allegations are tied to four different women between 1999 to 2005.

The Get Him to the Greek actor is charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy with the Metropolitan Police said the investigation is ongoing, according to police.

“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police,” Furphy said.

Brand took to social media after news broke to deny the charges. He has continued to deny the accusations since the allegations surfaced years ago.

“I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, who were just about a shot over there, my beautiful children, I was a fool, man,” he said. “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was a rapist.”

 

“I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes,” he added.

I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

He thanked people for sending him messages of support on social media.

He is set to appear in court on May 2.

DOJ Probing Biden’s Illegal Use of Obstruction Law Against J6 Defendants

Luis Cornelio
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DOJ Probing Biden’s Illegal Use of Obstruction Law Against J6 Defendants

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) U.S. District Attorney Ed Martin has launched an internal investigation into the Biden administration’s illegal weaponization of a federal obstruction law to target Jan. 6 defendants. 

Martin, a Trump appointee, announced the probe in an internal email to federal prosecutors. This comes just 10 months after the Supreme Court sided with J6 defendant and former police officer Joseph Fischer in a case questioning the DOJ’s expanded interpretation of Section 1512(c)(2). 

Federal prosecutors have traditionally used the law—commonly known as obstruction of an official proceeding—for cases involving evidence tampering or similar offenses. That was until Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021. 

Under the Biden administration’s interpretation, Section 1512(c)(2) was applied to many J6 defendants and even President Donald Trump for merely being inside the U.S. Capitol and disrupting the 2021 election certification on January 6. 

A 6-3 Supreme Court decision in 2024 shut down this interpretation as unlawful, delivering a scorching rebuke of the Biden administration. 

Martin is investigating how the federal government approved using the law against Jan. 6 defendants, according to a screenshot of an email he sent to colleagues. 

“We continue to look at exactly how and why so many Jan 6th cases were charged using 1512 which led to the dramatic failure before the Supreme Court,” he wrote in the email shared by journalist Julie Kelly on X. 

He added, “We have contacted lawyers, staff and judges about this – and sought their feedback. One called the bi-partisan rejection of the 1512 charge the ‘greatest failure of legal judgment since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps – and seized their property.’” 

“I agree and that’s why we continue to look at who ordered the 1512 and why. A lot to do,” Martin said. 

Martin noted that the DOJ has been asked to “look into leaks that took place during the January 6th prosecutions,” which he affirmed damaged parties, witnesses, and officers. 

The probe is part of what Martin described as the “1512 Project,” chaired by attorney Jonathan Hooks. 

Kash Patel Promotes FBI Agent Who Targeted Trump Supporters for Years

Ken Silva
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Kash Patel Promotes FBI Agent Who Targeted Trump Supporters for Years

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Before he became FBI director, Kash Patel made a lot of bold statements about the changes he’d make to the bureau—including that he’d shut down its headquarters and turn it into a “museum for the deep state.” Patel also made more substantial promises, such that he’d release all the FBI’s files on notorious pedophile and likely federal informant Jeffrey Epstein.

Since his appointment, Patel has reversed a lot of his FBI-critical stances, and he’s yet to fulfill many of his promises.

And according to the New York Times, Patel has now appointed an agent who targeted Trump supporters for years to a key position within the bureau. Indeed, the Times reported Friday that Patel named Steven J. Jensen to run the FBI’s Washington DC field office.

As the Times reported, Jensen was in charge of the bureau’s domestic terrorism operations section during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising, and he played a “key role” in responding to that event. According to testimony from the Democrats’ Jan. 6th Commission, Jensen called J6 protestors “terrorists” and promised to “round them all up.”

Jensen was also in charge of the FBI’s controversial program to monitor protesting parents at school board meetings as potential domestic terrorism threats—a scandal stemming from October 2021, when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to divert counterterrorism resources towards tracking alleged threats at school board meetings.

The Times noted that Patel railed against this program in his book, Government Gangsters.

“Patel wrote that the Justice Department targeted parents who pushed back against ‘programs to teach their children vile and hateful race theory.’ The department, Mr. Patel said, ‘justified its threatening campaign against parents in a memo that labeled these law-abiding citizens as ‘domestic terrorists,’” the Times reported Friday.

The Times aptly described Patel’s newfound professed love for the FBI as a “bait and switch” on MAGA. The Times cited emails Patel and his deputy director, Dan Bongino, wrote to the bureau’s agents, praising them and the FBI.

“Over the past few years, the F.B.I.’s reputation has been damaged in the eyes of our employers, the American people,” Patel wrote on Wednesday in one of the messages, according to the Times. “I know each of you, serving across this great nation, are tackling cases that will further the betterment of the communities in which you live and work.”

Along with all the reversals described above, Patel has also reversed his position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Patel previously expressed support for implementing warrant requirements for FISA 702, but he abandoned that position during his confirmation hearings.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.



Gov’t Contractor Fired Man for Attending July 13 Butler Trump Rally w/ Company Hat

Ken Silva
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Gov’t Contractor Fired Man for Attending July 13 Butler Trump Rally w/ Company Hat

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A government contractor fired an employee for wearing a company hat to the deadly July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday.

In the lawsuit, rallygoer Clarence Stamm says he was heading to the Butler Trump rally on that sunny, 90-plus degree day when he decided to grab a sun visor sponsored by his employer, Iron Mountain—a government contractor and information management company that has an underground storage location in Butler County for vital records, data centers, and “other sensitive assets,” according to its website.

Stamm, who worked at that underground facility, said he told his supervisor at Iron Mountain ahead of time that he was going to the Butler rally.

After the rally—where a gunman shot Donald Trump’s ear, killed a firefighter and seriously wounded at least two others—Stamm said he texted his supervisor to let him know that he was OK.

On July 18, Iron Mountain emailed Stamm to let him know he’s fired.

“To recap, leadership became aware of you wearing an Iron Mountain logo’d visor to a political rally on 7/13/2024 when you texted the following picture and caption to your Supervisor: ‘I’m fine Keith. Did you see I made it on Fox News wearing my Iron Mountain sun visor!!!,” the email stated.

“Clarence, this behavior is considered unprofessional and unacceptable and in direct violation of Iron Mountain policies … Therefore, your employment is terminated effective July 12, 2024.”

Stamm, who worked for Iron Mountain for 10 years and holds a security clearance, said he was “shocked” at the email.

“Plaintiff’s employment with Iron Mountain was terminated because Defendant and its agents did not like the fact that Plaintiff attended the Rally to support President Trump and his MAGA agenda while wearing Defendant’s Promotional Merchandise,” Stamm said in his lawsuit.

“Nowhere in Defendant’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct does it prohibit or restrict its employees from wearing Defendant’s Promotional Merchandise in their respective communities.”

Stamm further said that Iron Mountain has actively encouraged employees to wear company logos—including to LGBT pride events.

Arguing that Iron Mountain qualifies as a “state actor” because it’s a government contractor, Stamm said the decision to fire him violated the First Amendment. He’s also suing for wrongful termination.

Stamm seeks compensation for his “monetary damages, embarrassment, loss of reputation, and anxiety regarding his and his family’s economic future,” his lawsuit states.

Iron Mountain did not respond to a Headline USA email seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Nevada Rule Bans Biological Males from Playing in Girls’ Sports

Editor 3
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Nevada Rule Bans Biological Males from Playing in Girls’ Sports

(Zachery Schmidt, The Center Square) Biological males can’t compete in girls’ sports under a new rule announced this week by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

NIAA’s rule says male student athletes can only compete in NIAA-sanctioned sports designated for boys or coeds. The NIAA, which oversees sports at secondary schools in Nevada, said the sport must align with the sex listed on the student’s original birth certificate.

Female student athletes can only participate on a boys’ team if a corresponding team is unavailable for girls, and they must qualify for that team. Female players can participate on teams designated for girls or co-ed.

This new regulation reverses a rule the NIAA, which oversees sports at secondary schools in Nevada, made in 2014 that allowed transgender student athletes to participate in sports that corresponded with their gender identity. Under the old rules, transgender track and field athlete Diamond Solorzano, a biological male attending North Valleys High School in Reno, won two state championships in 2023 in girls’ track and field.

The new rule, which doesn’t allow biological males to play on a girls’ team, reflects the organization’s dedication to “the evolving landscape of interscholastic sports,” said NIAA Executive Director Timothy Jackson.

“By refining our approach to governance and prioritizing student athletes, we are taking important steps to uphold fairness and opportunity for all participants,” he said.

Nevada Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony celebrated NIAA’s decision to make sure “high school girls can compete in a protected category exclusively for female athletes.”

“Girls deserve a level playing field, and this action helps ensure they can compete, grow and succeed without having to compromise safety or fairness,” Anthony said.

In January, the lieutenant governor formed the Task Force to Protect Women’s Sports. This group examines policies impacting female athletes.

Marshi Smith, the task force chair, applauded the NIAA’s new rule, saying that its high school sports policy is now in line with federal law.

The Center Square contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and the nonprofit Advocates for Trans Equality, but they did not return with a comment before press time.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Hit w/ New Sex Trafficking Charges a Month before Trial

Headline USA Editor
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Hit w/ New Sex Trafficking Charges a Month before Trial

(Headline USA) Federal prosecutors on Friday added two charges to rapper and former Democrat activist Sean “Diddy” Combs ‘ indictment and said they expect four accusers to testify against him, expanding on allegations that the jailed hip-hop mogul engaged in sex trafficking with multiple women and as recently as last year.

A superseding indictment accuses Combs of using force, fraud, or coercion to compel a woman to engage in commercial sex acts from at least 2021 to 2024.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, also alleges Combs was involved in transporting the woman — identified only as “Victim-2” — and other people, including commercial sex workers, to engage in prostitution during the same time frame.

The new charges are in addition to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges filed against Combs when he was arrested in September. They increase the total number of charges against him from three to five.

In a court filing, federal prosecutors said the racketeering conspiracy charge involves allegations that Combs sex trafficked three victims and forced a fourth, one of his employees, into sexual activity with him.

In the filing, which was heavily redacted, prosecutors said three of the four accusers who are expected to testify have asked that their identities not be revealed to the press or the public and that they instead be referred to by at trial using only pseudonyms.

The accuser referred to as “Victim-1” in Combs’ charging documents is prepared to testify under her own name, prosecutors said.

Combs, 55, is scheduled to stand trial May 5. He remains locked up at a federal jail in Brooklyn. A message seeking comment on the new charges was left with his representatives.

Friday’s superseding indictment is the third filed against Combs.

In the first, in January, federal prosecutors disclosed that their case involved at least three women whom they said Combs forced to engage in commercial sex acts. They also alleged Combs showed a firearm to a female victim during a kidnapping and once dangled a woman over an apartment balcony.

Combs’ January indictment didn’t include additional charges but modified some details of the existing ones, including adding four years to the alleged racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors now say it started in 2004, not 2008 as the original indictment had alleged. A superseding indictment in March contained minimal changes.

Combs denies committing any crimes and has pleaded not guilty to the first set of charges, which allege that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

His arraignment on the new charges has not been scheduled. Prosecutors asked Friday that it be held at his final pretrial conference on April 25.

Federal prosecutors allege the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer and Bad Boy Records founder used his “power and prestige” as a music star to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak Offs.”

Central to the case is a March 2016 video showing Combs hitting and kicking his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway. Prosecutors contend the assault happened during a “Freak Off.” Combs lawyers argue the footage was nothing more than a “glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship” between the two.

Combs’ lawyers contend the case should never have been brought and are fighting to dismiss a charge involving allegations he transported a male escort across state lines.

“The government has concocted a criminal case based primarily on allegations that Mr. Combs and two of his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third party — a male escort — into their sexual relationship,” Combs lawyer Alexandra A.E. Shapiro wrote in a February court filing.

“Each of the three charges in the case are premised on the theory that this type of sexual activity is a federal crime,” Shapiro added.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

A Dollar’s Not Worth Much But It Makes Good Wallpaper

Money Metals News Service
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A Dollar’s Not Worth Much But It Makes Good Wallpaper

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Is a dollar worthless? No. Well, not quite. Dollars make good wallpaper.

If you visit Charleston, S.C., stop by The Griffon – English Style Pub. You’ll find the inside wallpapered with dollar bills.

There are dollar bills on the walls. There are dollar bills on the ceiling. There are dollar bills plastered on columns. No matter where you are in the establishment, you’ll find easy money within arms reach.

And yet nobody takes it.

Why would you? What are you going to do with a dollar?

Not much.

You’d have to grab about 10 bills off the wall just to buy a drink.

So, why not use American currency for wallpaper? It’s even a nice shade of green!

Now, if the Griffon was papered with $100 bills, the owners might have a security problem. And imagine if the bar was covered in gold coins.

But dollar bills?

No worries.

It’s just not worth the trouble to pilfer.

This wasn’t always the case. A dollar in 1970 was worth about $8.44 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator based on the CPI. You could have grabbed a bill off the wall and bought a drink back then.

Keep in mind that the CPI doesn’t tell the entire story of inflation. The government revised the CPI formula in the 1990s so that it understated the actual rise in prices. Based on the formula used in the 1970s, CPI is closer to double the official numbers.

The sad reality is our money has devalued to the point that a dollar bill isn’t much different than a penny. It’s not worth bending over to pick it up.

Speaking of pennies, have you heard about the penny problem? President Trump recently ordered the U.S. Mint to stop producing them. It’s too expensive. It costs about 3.69 cents to mint and distribute a penny.

And by the way, we also have a nickel problem. According to the most recent annual report produced by the U.S. Mint, it costs 13.8 cents to produce and distribute one nickel.

The phasing out of the penny and the fact that people are willing to use dollar bills as wallpaper underscore the devaluation of your money and the erosion of your purchasing power. It’s slow, but it’s inexorable.

And it’s not a good look.

As Venezuela was facing one of its spates of hyperinflation back in 2015, a photo of a man using a 2 bolivar note as a napkin went viral. The picture encapsulated the economic distress endured by the Venezuelan people.

Business Insider reported that, based on the official exchange rate, the makeshift napkin was worth about 32 cents. But in reality, the man didn’t waste nearly that much.

“On the black market, the reality is completely different. You can get 676.88 bolivars to the dollar, according to dolartoday.com. That means holding food with a 2 bolivar note costs the holder less than a third of one U.S. cent.”

Here’s something that should give Americans pause.

Is using currency as a napkin any different than using it as wallpaper?

Is the U.S. Venezuela?

Its monetary policy certainly isn’t much different – print money so the government can borrow and spend.

The difference is the U.S. enjoys the advantage of issuing the world reserve currency. That means the world needs a lot of dollars. It doesn’t need any bolivars. This demand for dollars supports the U.S. government’s borrowing, spending, and money creation. If the dollar wasn’t the reserve currency, we would likely be facing hyperinflation just like Venezuelans did. (Or perhaps we would have a smaller less intrusive government.)

That raises a question: What happens if the dollar loses its reserve status?

We may find out because it’s happening, slowly but surely. With de-dollarization, the dollar’s reserve status is losing ground to gold and other currencies.

At the rate we’re going, it won’t be long before people are wallpapering bars with $100 bills and using dollars and napkins.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Central Banks Gobbled Up More Gold in February

Money Metals News Service
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Central Banks Gobbled Up More Gold in February

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Record prices haven’t dulled central banks’ appetites for gold. Globally, central banks officially added another net 24 tonnes of gold to their reserves in February, according to the latest data released by the World Gold Council.

Poland was the biggest buyer in February, adding another 29 tonnes of gold to its reserves. The National Bank of Poland now holds 480 tonnes of the yellow metal, making up 20 percent of its reserves.

Last year, the Polish central bank expanded its gold holdings by 90 tonnes, leading all buyers.

It will be interesting to see if Poland continues to add to its gold holdings. In 2024, National Bank of Poland Governor Adam Glapiński indicated the central bank planned to increase its gold holdings to 20 percent of its reserves.

“This makes Poland a more credible country, we have a better standing in all ratings, we are a very serious partner, and we will continue to buy gold.”

The People’s Bank of China publicly returned to the table in November after a six-month pause in reporting gold purchases. The Chinese central bank was the second-biggest buyer in February, adding another 5 tonnes of gold to its official reserves. That pushed its official gold holdings to 2,285 tonnes, about 6 percent of its total reserves.

Notice the emphasis on “official.”

The Chinese likely hold significantly more gold than they publicly disclose. As Jan Nieuwenhuijs has reported, the People’s Bank of China is secretly buying large amounts of gold off the books. According to data parsed by the renowned Money Metals researcher, the Chinese central bank is currently sitting on more than 5,000 tonnes of monetary gold located in Beijing – more than TWICE what has been publicly admitted.

The Turkish central bank returned to buying in February after a pause in January, adding 3 tonnes of gold to its official holdings. Turkey ranked second in gold buying among central banks in 2024, expanding its reserves by 74.8 tonnes. The Turks now own 623 tonnes of gold, making up about 38 percent of their reserves.

The following central banks also reported gold purchases of at least 1 tonne in February:

  • Jordan  – 3 tonnes
  • Qatar – 2 tonnes
  • Czech Republic – 2 tonnes

There were some notable sellers. The National Bank of Kazakhstan sold 8 tonnes of gold, and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan trimmed its gold holdings by 12 tonnes. Uzbekistan was the biggest buyer in January.  It is not uncommon for banks that buy from domestic production – such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan – to switch between buying and selling.

Russia also decreased its gold holdings modestly.

Official central bank gold demand topped 1,000 tonnes for the third straight year in 2024. To put that into perspective, central bank gold reserves increased by an average of just 473 tonnes annually between 2010 and 2021.

On net, central banks officially increased their gold holdings by 1,044.6 tonnes last year. It was the 15th consecutive year of expanding gold reserves.

Last year was the third-largest expansion of central bank gold reserves on record, coming in just 6.2 tonnes lower than in 2023 and 91 tonnes lower than the all-time high set in 2022. (1,136 tonnes). 2022 was the highest level of net purchases on record dating back to 1950, including since the suspension of dollar convertibility into gold in 1971.

The World Gold Council summed up the current central bank demand.

“Central banks continue to play a pivotal role in global gold demand, with their purchasing patterns influenced by both economic and geopolitical shifts. The shift from armed conflict to broader economic tensions has reinforced their net buying trend, especially apparent since 2022. Many central banks appear to have strategically leveraged temporary price pullbacks as buying opportunities, while sales have remained limited and largely tactical during price rallies.”

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

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