For months now, headlines have echoed with the name Robert Turner an American national who says he lost his money in a cross-border gold transaction gone wrong. Turner has accused major institutions like Stanbic Bank and law firms such as Maxim Advocates of mishandling his case, while also claiming that Ugandan authorities demanded repeated bribes during his quest for justice.
Our investigations reveal that Robert Turner’s business had no formal dealings in Uganda. In fact, the entire transaction that sparked the storm took place outside Ugandan jurisdiction mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Dubai.
It all began with a deal signed on November 5, 2024. Turner, representing his company DM Services, entered into a contract with a Congolese mining cooperative called COMIKI, based in Shabunda, South Kivu a region long plagued by instability and armed conflict. The contract was for the export of 150 kilograms of gold, priced at USD 55,000 per kilogram. The planned route would move the gold from eastern Congo, through Uganda, and on to Dubai.
Turner claimed he was working with a Dubai-based firm called Greenwave Middle East Trading to handle logistics and facilitate the final leg of the journey. But when we reached out to Greenwave, their version of events told a very different story.
According to Greenwave officials, they had never directly engaged with Turner. Instead, their contact came from a man named Mr. Kasongo representing COMIKI who said he was arranging the deal on behalf of Turner’s company. Greenwave says alarm bells went off the moment they traced the origin of the gold. It was linked to the M23 rebel group, one of the most notorious armed factions in eastern Congo. Greenwave promptly cut ties with everyone involved.
The company emphasized that they operate within strict compliance boundaries. “We can’t touch gold coming out of conflict zones,” said a Greenwave spokesperson. “It’s not just illegal it’s dangerous. For us, even being mentioned in such transactions harms our reputation.”
They also clarified that the funds Turner sent to Dubai were never handled by Greenwave, but were redirected by Mr. Kasongo, supposedly to secure a different logistics provider after Greenwave backed out. Attempts to reach Mr. Kasongo for clarification have been unsuccessful.
Gold smuggling from eastern Congo is nothing new. An estimated 12 tons of gold worth half a billion dollars slips out of the region every year, often funding the very groups that keep the region in turmoil. The M23 rebels, whose resurgence since 2021 has been marked by sweeping territorial control, are believed to have inherited a smuggling network once run by warlord Bosco Ntaganda. These networks stretch from Goma to Kampala to Nairobi, connecting conflict-zone miners with wealthy international buyers.
While Turner insists he was unaware of the gold’s origins, sources indicate he traveled to Dubai multiple times this year and was kept fully informed. His ties to individuals within Uganda’s informal gold trade also raise questions, though no direct links have been established between his transaction and any Ugandan business entity.
Uganda has long served as a key transit point in the laundering of Congolese gold
smuggled across porous borders, relabeled as Ugandan-origin, and then exported legally. It’s a loophole many actors know how to exploit.
Ultimately, this story isn’t just about one man’s financial loss. It’s about the murky underworld of conflict minerals, the global appetite for gold,and the human cost buried beneath the glitter. Robert Turner may have entered the trade with hopes of profit, but what he found instead was a dangerous network where lawlessness and ambition collide
and where no amount of money can buy peace of mind.
