Brad Brooks-Rubin on illicit gold, corruption, and sanctions

In this episode, Justine Walker sits down with Brad Brooks-Rubin, a leading expert in sanctions, illicit finance, and corruption to examine why gold — one of the world's oldest stores of value — has become a blind spot in modern sanctions and financial crime frameworks. Their conversation explores gold's central role in illicit finance, corruption, and the shortcomings of existing due-diligence and certification programs. Against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition and evolving payment systems, they unpack what effective accountability, intelligence sharing, and sanctions strategy could look like when confronting high‑risk commodities like gold.

Brooks-Rubin focuses on the intersection of different types of risks – sanctions, corruption, money laundering, political and human rights. Most recently, Brooks-Rubin was a senior advisor in the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State, where he was responsible for sanctions policy coordination related to sub-Saharan Africa, Burma, the West Bank, and natural resources, principally diamonds, gold and timber. 

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