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#turkeybazaarmoneylaundering Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is propping up Venezuela, Russia’s economy as a shocking $250M money-laundering operation
By Chadwick Moore,

2 days ago

Called “the world’s first shopping mall,” Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar entrances millions of visitors annually with its myriad displays of exotic jewels and spices, elaborate carpets for sale, and constant hustle.

But hardly even hidden behind the smiles of its stalls’ fez-capped salesmen and the city’s ubiquitous scent of döner kebab, a much more sinister business of dark international money laundering takes place.

A $30 million seizure of smuggled jewels and diamonds from the market last April —and February’s arrest of 37 suspects in a vast Turkish money laundering operation — was the tip of the iceberg, experts say.

The vice president of the bazaar was among 37 people detained in a February 2025 raid, where $250 million in illicit funds were uncovered–just a drop in the bucket, say experts. Getty Images
The Grand Bazaar is a hub of illicit international trade where commodities from the world’s most sanctioned nations flow freely. Donald Pearsall / NY Post Design

An estimated $900 million a year in sanctioned Venezuelan gold alone is moving alongside holidaymakers through the crowded market stalls, exchanged for Russian and Iranian commodities — keeping the economies of those sanctioned nations afloat.

“It’s been an epicenter of money laundering for a long time. The gold markets in the Grand Bazaar are quite significant,” Louise Shelley, a professor emerita at George Mason University and specialist on transnational crime, told The Post.

She added that the police don’t interfere much and that the Turks are fully knowledgeable about this.

The market dates to the Byzantine Empire, when it was established by Sultan Mehmet II in the year 1461 and today offers visitors historic charm and a vast 4,000-shop spread with everything from leather goods to ceramics and handmade pottery.

International crime expert Louise Shelley says the Grand Bazaar is a money laundering epicenter. AFP via Getty Images

For decades, Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar–an international tourist mega hotspot–has had a seedy underbelly where the world’s most sanctioned nations come to feast. Getty Images
And for those looking closely enough, blood-soaked metals are bound for the international market.

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In February, the vice president of the Bazaar was among those detained when Turkish authorities identified 93 shell companies operating in the market moving $250 million in illicit funds — all with the aid, knowingly or otherwise, of some of the nation’s largest banks.

But this is nothing new and most of those arrested won’t face many consequences, said Shelley.

“There’s a political use of a corruption investigation. That’s what may be happening in some of these cases. If they’re arrested, then the government just basically extorts them for some of the money that’s passed through their hands.

“It’s the way for top government officials and the government to extract resources,” she said.

Gold flows alongside rugs and other goods, where it is exchanged for oil from countries like Iran and Russia. Getty Images

In July, a man in Spain was arrested for running weapons technology through the market in route to Russia. Getty Images
One pipeline identified by international criminologists involves the sanctioned Venezuelan gold being sent to Turkey for refinement. This is legal, provided the gold comes home — except it never does, experts say.

Venezuelan gold leaves from shady port cities like Venezuela’s Cucuta — where a major financier of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been known to operate — and is bought by Turkish criminals.

The gold is then exchanged with Iran and Russia for banned oil. Gold markets in the United Arab Emirates act as another middleman, international crime experts say.

The barrels of contraband oil are then sold into international markets alongside regular barrels. Pushback is rare, as nations don’t conduct genetic analysis of where their oil comes from.

“If you are making international trade, [around] five percent of containers are checked. There is no port I know that checks 100 percent of the containers. [And] the traffic is always high,” Oguzhan Akin, a financial crime expert with anti-corruption nonprofit Transparency International, told The Post.

Financial crime expert Oguzhan Akin says corruption in Turkey has only become more widespread and easy as uncertainty plagues the economy. Courtesy of Dr. Oguzhan Akin