How a mysterious Turkish firm helped Nicolas Maduro move $900 mn in gold

It's unclear what underpins Turkey's support for Maduro beyond a general opposition to US meddling and efforts to overthrow nominally-democratic governments

Two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, a mysterious company called Sardes sprang into existence.

The firm started business with a bang in January of 2018, when it imported about $41 million worth of gold from Venezuela, the first such transaction between the two countries in records that go back 50 years. The next month its volume more than doubled, with Sardes transporting almost $100 million worth to Turkey.

By November, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorising sanctions on Venezuelan gold -- after sending an envoy to warn Turkey off the