Beny Steinmetz is an Israeli mining magnate whose companies claim Soros owes them at least $10 billion for his defamation campaign, which cost them the rights to an iron ore mine in Guinea and other business opportunities around the world, according to Bloomberg.
Steinmetz’s BSG Resources said Soros funded several law firms, transparency groups, investigators and Guinean government officials to deprive them of mining rights to Simandou in April 2014, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan District Court in New York.
After years of accusing Soros of spreading corrupt information that caused businesses to miss out on business opportunities, this is the first time BSG Resources has taken legal action against the 86-year-old billionaire.
In the lawsuit, BSG Resources alleges that Mr. Soros was upset in 1998 over a Russian business. Mr. Soros, who crashed the Bank of England by betting against the pound in 1992, is also widely seen as hostile to Israel. Mr. Soros’s spokesman, Michael Vachon, did not respond to a request for comment.
Simandou is considered by many mining companies to be the richest iron ore deposit on the planet. It is also the subject of numerous legal battles.
Rio Tinto Group sued Steinmetz, accusing him and BSG Resources of conspiring with Vale to win the Simandou mine. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal court in New York in 2015. In December 2016, lawyers for BSG Resources sued Rio Tinto for billions of dollars in damages after the company said it had notified law enforcement about a $10.5 million payment to a friend of the Guinean president.
In 2013, BSG Resources’ public relations adviser, FTI Consulting, also faced a lawsuit in London, alleging that it was part of a campaign against BSG Resources led by billionaire Soros. FTI Consulting has denied any wrongdoing.
Billionaire Steinmetz is also being investigated by law enforcement officials in Switzerland and Israel on suspicion of paying bribes to help his business win part of the Simandou mining rights.
Steinmetz and BSG Resources lost the Simandou concession after the Guinean government discovered that they had received the concession after paying millions of dollars in bribes, some of which went to Mamadie Toure, the former Guinean president’s fourth wife.
