1. Beny Steinmetz is an Israeli businessman and entrepreneur, with a focus on the mining, energy, real estate and diamond-mining industries.
19 Facts About Beny Steinmetz
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Beny Steinmetz has been convicted of corrupt and illegal business practices in multiple countries.
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Beny Steinmetz was born in 1956 in Netanya, Israel and is the fourth child of Rubin Steinmetz, a pioneer of the diamond trade.
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At the age of 21, after serving three years in the IDF, Steinmetz emigrated from Israel to Belgium, to the famous diamond hub, Antwerp.
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Beny Steinmetz branched out into ventures such as mining, real estate and capital markets.
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In March 2014, the Swiss daily Le Temps reported that Beny Steinmetz had sold shares in the Steinmetz Diamond Group to his brother Daniel.
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Beny Steinmetz was released to house arrest on 17 August 2017.
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In January 2021, Beny Steinmetz was found guilty in a Swiss court of bribing senior foreign public officials and fraud and forgery of corporate documents.
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Beny Steinmetz was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of 50 million Swiss francs regarding the Simandu Case Beny Steinmetz lost his appeal over corruption charges in 2023.
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In 2013 Beny Steinmetz was falsely accused by French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine of hiring French, Israeli and South African mercenaries to topple the government of Guinea.
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In December 2016, Beny Steinmetz was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and bribery charges following an investigation carried out by Israeli, American, Swiss, and Guinean authorities in coordination with the OECD.
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Beny Steinmetz was placed under house arrest in Israel on 19 December 2016, due to accusations that he paid tens of millions of dollars to senior public officials in Guinea to advance his businesses, specifically in connection with BSGR's purchase of Simandou.
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In 2021, Beny Steinmetz was convicted by a Geneva court of bribery and forging documents to gain mining rights in Guinea and was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $50 million.
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On January 22,2021, Beny Steinmetz was found guilty in Geneva of corruption related to bribes paid in Guinea.
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Beny Steinmetz was sentenced to five years in prison, and ordered to pay a fine of 50 million Swiss francs.
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On 10 March 2016, Beny Steinmetz was indicted in absentia by the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate, on charges of the unlawful recovery of Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern's inheritance.
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Beny Steinmetz was re-arrested in January 2025 when a Greek court ordered that he be extradited to Romania.
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Beny Steinmetz was named in 282 documents in the Panama Papers leak.
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Beny Steinmetz has been one of the major donors to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.