Dan Gertler is an Israeli billionaire businessman in natural resources and the founder and president of the DGI group of companies.
24 Facts About Dan Gertler
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Dan Gertler is the grandson of Moshe Schnitzer, first president and co-founder of the Israel Diamond Exchange, and the winner of the Israel Prize in 2004.
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Dan Gertler's family was involved in cutting and merchandising diamonds.
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From September 2000 through April 2001, Dan Gertler had the sole right to buy "all diamonds produced in territory under the control of the Congolese Government", for which he had paid Kabila $20 million.
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Dan Gertler ran a quasi "comptoir" in the DRC with International Diamond Industries-Congo, the affiliate of his Israeli firm, IDI-Diamonds Industry.
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Dan Gertler soon managed to reestablish a relationship with Joseph Kabila, becoming increasingly close socially, to the point that, in 2006, Kabila invited him to his wedding.
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Dan Gertler was sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.
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Fleurette Properties is a Gibraltar-based company which has at least "60 holding companies in offshore havens such as the Virgin Islands", through which Dan Gertler controlled concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Subsequently, Dan Gertler signed the agreement with the Congolese government led by President Felix Tshisekedi.
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In June 2006 Dan Gertler bought Tremalt, which had a half share in the Mukondo Mine, for about $60 million from the Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp.
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In 2007 Tremalt was owned by Prairie International Ltd, of which Dan Gertler's family trust was a major shareholder.
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Dan Gertler Getler offered to help, through his connections with President Joseph Kabila.
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Dan Gertler purchased the third-party company and resold it to Africo.
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Biko Invest Corporation, linked to Dan Gertler and incorporated 23 February 2011 in the British Virgin Islands, bought a quarter of Kansuki Sprl from Gecamines in 2011.
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In December 2012 the International Monetary Fund stopped a US$500m loan to the Congo because of irregularities in the way a company reputed to be controlled by Dan Gertler acquired minerals from Joseph Kabila's government.
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Dan Gertler's name appears more than 200 times in the Panama Papers.
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Dan Gertler appears in 120 documents regarding his relationship with Glencore.
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In return, Dan Gertler asked President Tshisekedi to lobby the American government to lift the sanctions against him.
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In 2020, Dan Gertler filed a lawsuit for 9 million shekels against Haaretz newspaper and journalists Gur Megiddo and Chaim Levinson, after they published an investigative report describing how funds were transferred from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Israel, despite the economic sanctions imposed on Dan Gertler by the United States.
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In 2004, Dan Gertler established the Dan Gertler Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Dan Gertler is close to the Nadvorna Rebbe and was close to his father, Rabbi Yaakov Yisachar Ber Rosenbaum, as well as to Rabbi David Hai Abuhatzeira.
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Dan Gertler was one of Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman's close associates until his death in 2017.
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Additionally, Dan Gertler has donated millions of shekels to a fund aiding AIDS patients.
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In 2003, Dan Gertler was an active participant in the Congo peace talks, mediating between Joseph Kabila, Paul Kagame, and American diplomats, including Condoleezza Rice.