Feniks money-laundering case: ten suspects, gold bought monthly, hearing in The Hague

The first hearing in a money-laundering case called Feniks, with ten suspects from Den Haag, Pijnacker, Amersfoort, Oosterhout and Amsterdam, was held at the district court in The Hague on Tuesday. The investigation is so large that it is not expected to be finished until 2027. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) says it concerns laundering tens of millions of euros of criminal money by converting it into gold.

Six men and four women are suspected of money laundering and forgery. The OM suspects that seven of them were part of a criminal organisation. One of the suspects from The Hague is also suspected of involvement in cocaine trafficking.

The laundering allegedly ran from roughly May 2023 to June 2026 and used a so-called cash compensation model. Criminal cash was paid into bank accounts via companies, mostly from the Hague region. False invoices made it look legitimately earned. Gold was then bought in Belgium from those accounts.

The OM says about €1 million of gold was bought per month and calls it a professional operation. According to a lawyer, part of the gold was kept in a Shurgard storage box. The prosecutor said each suspect played a key role, though the duration and scale differed from person to person.

On 30 June police raided homes and business premises at eleven locations across the Netherlands and arrested most of the suspects. One man is being held in Dubai, and an extradition request has been made. Six of the ten have been in custody since their arrest.

The judge suspended pretrial detention for all suspects, with conditions. The complicated pregnancy of one suspect played a part, as did the length of the police investigation. The suspects must surrender their passports and may not travel abroad. They are also banned from contact with each other, except for the Amersfoort couple and their sister or sister-in-law.

The OM opposed suspension for everyone except the heavily pregnant suspect. The prosecutor argued: "Anyone who manages to launder millions of euros on a large scale is of great value to criminals."

Data from seized phones and laptops still has to be read, and not all witnesses have been heard. The next hearing is on 5 January 2027.