Beny Steinmetz
| Beny Steinmetz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 (age 60–61) Netanya, Israel |
| Residence | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Diamonds, engineering, real estate |
| Net worth |
 US$ 3.5 billion (June 2014) |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | beny-steinmetz |
Beny Steinmetz (Hebrew: בני שטיינמץ; born 1956) is an Israeli businessman, with a portfolio in diamond-mining, engineering and real estate.
Beny Steinmetz was born in Netanya, Israel in 1956, the fourth child of Rubin Steinmetz. He inherited the Geneva-based Steinmetz Diamond Group from his father.
Steinmetz along with his brother Daniel founded what subsequently became known as Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). Beny currently occupies an advisory role to the company's Board of Directors. In March 2014, the Swiss daily Le Temps reported that Beny Steinmetz had sold shares in the Steinmetz Diamond Group (SDG) to his brother Daniel.
In December 2008, a three-year exploration permit for Simandou Blocks 1 & 2, in the Republic of Guinea, was awarded to BSGR Guinea, after the government of Guinea, under its then president, General Lansana Conté, ordered that it be relinquished by its previous holder, the British-Australian multinational mining company Rio Tinto Group. Conté signed over the rights to mine the northern half of Simandou, days before he died, to Steinmetz for $160 million. Steinmetz then soon sold a 51% share on to Vale for $2.5 billion.
The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have been investigating BSGR's acquisition of the rights to extract half of the iron ore deposits at Simandou, Guinea, due to concerns about corruption and bribery. BSGR have stringently denied these allegations, and in an interview to the New Yorker Beny Steinmetz has said: “We are the victims. We have done only good things for Guinea, and what we’re getting is spit in the face."
In April 2014 the Guinean government announced that it had "precise and coherent evidence" that BSGR had obtained the Simandou mining rights by paying bribes to the wife of then-president Lansana Conté in 2008, and that the rights would be stripped from BSGR and its partner Vale S.A. In September 2014 BSGR started an international arbitration proceeding against the Republic of Guinea in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, challenging the government's decision to revoke its mining rights.
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