Beny Steinmetz
| Beny Steinmetz | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 2 April 1956 |
| Died | |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Residence | |
| Occupation | Mining and diamond businessman |
| Known for | Simandou mining rights; Swiss bribery conviction; client of Black Cube |
| Parents | |
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| Predecessor | |
| Website | |
Beny Steinmetz (בנימין שטיינמץ, born 2 April 1956) is an Israeli businessman in diamonds, mining, energy and property, and the principal of Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). In January 2021 a Geneva court convicted him of bribing the wife of Guinea’s president to obtain half of the Simandou iron-ore concession. He was sentenced to five years and a fine of 50 million Swiss francs. He denied it. Appeal courts upheld the conviction. A 2025 ruling left a three-year sentence in place, half of it suspended, and sent the fine back. Black Cube has named him among its clients. The firm has not published the job.[1][2]
Simandou
In December 2008 the government of Lansana Conté granted BSGR Guinea a three-year exploration permit over blocks 1 and 2 of Simandou, the northern half of the range, for $160 million. BSGR then sold 51 per cent to Vale for $2.5 billion. The Geneva court found that BSGR and a middleman had signed contracts promising millions of dollars to Mamadie Touré, Conté’s wife, for her help in obtaining the rights, and that she pressed the president. It found that significant efforts were made to hide the scheme, including attempts to have Touré destroy the contracts. Steinmetz told the court he was innocent and had nothing to reproach himself with. He was indicted in Geneva in August 2019. On 19 December 2016 he had been placed under house arrest in Israel on the same allegations. A related US civil case was dismissed with prejudice in October 2021.[1]
The sentence has moved. Geneva gave five years and the 50 million franc fine. A Swiss appeal court upheld the conviction. In April 2025 OCCRP reported that the federal tribunal had exhausted his routes against the conviction, left a three-year sentence (half in prison, half suspended), and returned the fine to Geneva for reassessment. He is an Israeli resident. OCCRP could not confirm where he was.[1]
He has blamed George Soros. At a World Bank tribunal in 2017 he said Soros had used all his power to pursue him. Soros funded, at about $1 million, the DLA Piper inquiry into how the rights were obtained, after Alpha Condé, Conté’s successor, said contracts based on bribery could be cancelled. Swiss judges and an arbitration rejected the claim of a Soros plot. FTI Consulting dropped him as a client in November 2012. Powerscourt took the account.[3]
Other cases
On 10 March 2016 the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate indicted him in absentia over the recovery of the inheritance of Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern. In North Macedonia, BSGR fell into dispute with a partner at a nickel refinery. A company tied to directors of GSOL sent millions in a failed attempt to take the plant. In February 2019 a GSOL subsidiary took part in talks on a provisional settlement with Guinea. Guinea then withdrew as a plaintiff in the Geneva prosecution. The deal turned on Steinmetz and GSOL partnering in a new mining venture. He has also brought a claim, put at $20 billion, against Soros. These are separate from the conviction.[4]
Black Cube
The Financial Times, listing the firm’s controversial clients, put him beside Harvey Weinstein: the mining tycoon sentenced for bribery, then appealing. That is the public attribution. No contract, fee or operative has been published, unlike the Weinstein papers and the Playtech deposition. The London company is B.C. Strategy UK Ltd. The director is Avi Yanus. The operations head is Dan Zorella. Neither filing names Steinmetz.[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Swiss Court Upholds Bribery Conviction for Billionaire Beny Steinmetz, OCCRP, 4 April 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Inside Black Cube, Financial Times, 3 November 2025.
- ↑ Beny Steinmetz: Scion of Diamond Royalty, Now At Bay, OCCRP, 10 June 2024.
- ↑ Deals that Helped Tycoon Steinmetz Combat Bribery Fallout, OCCRP, 10 June 2024.