> Has the lack of crypto ever stopped this from happening?

Undeniably yes, given the number of fraud and money laundering convictions achieved over the years.

> cases of gold bars [...] are actually MUCH less tracable.

Laughably false, given the difficulty of liquidating such things without detection. If you have to store your ill-gotten gains in your own home you've lost the opsec battle already.

I think you're just saying gold bars aren't digital information so don't a priori show up in a query somewhere. But the question that actually needs to be asked is "Did Menendez get caught with gold bars in his home?"

Yeah, he did. Ergo, they aren't very "untraceable" in practice.