Trader’s Million-Dollar Gold Rush Ends on Paris-Brussels Highway

(Bloomberg) -- A metals trader who ferried gold bars and coins worth more than $1 million between Paris and Brussels failed to get back money that was frozen on his bank account after border guards stopped him at a highway toll booth for failing to declare his precious cargo.

Cannane Sammandamourty had five gold bars and 349 gold coins worth more than $200,000 in his car when he was pulled over in September 2016, according to a ruling from France’s top court, revealed this week.

His home was then searched and French authorities found more gold bars and coins weighing a total of 5 kilograms. Documents found there also showed he sold gold worth a total of 1 million euros ($1.1 million) between July and August 2016.

Sammandamourty lost his bid to overturn an order to seize about 200,000 euros in his bank account, according to the ruling, which said he’s under investigation in France for breaching the customs code by covertly crossing the border with gold he’d bought in Paris with a value exceeding 10,000 euros.

His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

In statements to investigators, Sammandamourty said he’d gone about 30 times to Belgium to sell about 1 kilogram of gold each time for as much as 40,000 euros in cash.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Nicholas Larkin

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