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In his international litigation with George Soros, Beny Steinmetz is assisted by top-class lawyers and communications advisors, while his loyal allies handle his affairs with discretion. Read on for an in-depth look at the French-Israeli businessman’s contacts.

This is part 4 of a 4-part series.

64-year-old Beny Steinmetz is undoubtedly in the middle of the toughest fight of his life. After a Geneva court sentenced him to five years in prison for bribery in January, the Franco-Israeli tycoon now spends most of his days perfecting a legal strategy to refute the allegations made against him and clear his name.

In London, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Geneva, his staff work overtime to win cases while the former diamond tycoon waits patiently in his mansion overlooking the Mediterranean. Surrounded by legal experts and PR specialists, he has brought his network of contacts into full swing in order to save his reputation and his business empire.

The protector

The leading Swiss lawyer is the strategist and architect behind Steinmetz’s litigation. The couple has been known for four decades. Marc Bonnant, 76, knows the pros and cons of the ex-billionaire’s affairs better than anyone, as well as the structure of the companies his client is associated with. As an expert in the intricacies of finance and criminal law, he is, in addition to Peter Goop and Rothschild Trust Guernsey, director of the Liechtenstein-based Balda Foundation.

Balda, of which Steinmetz is only a “beneficiary” on paper, is the owner through various holdings in Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), a company in which the businessman only performs his role as a “consultant”. Bonnant works in Geneva and represents a number of high-profile personalities. He has another Israeli customer, mining tycoon Dan Gertler.

the defenders

Steinmetz and BSGR have hired an army of lawyers in her global litigation with George Soros. They are represented by Asserson Law Offices and Mishcon de Reya law firms in London, while Renato Polillo, attorney with Warde Advogados, is their first line of defense in Brazil.

Elsewhere in the world he is represented by former French ambassador François Zimeray in a case before the European Court of Human Rights relating to Steinmetz’s conviction by a Romanian court.

The American lawyer Louis Solomon looks after the interests of the entrepreneur in the United States, in particular his civil lawsuit against Soros. Finally, the leading Tel Aviv law firm, Eitan Maoz, is negotiating with the Israeli authorities over another case.

The influencers

Steinmetz and BSGR have been contacting Buchanan since 2015, A London-based communications consultancy with extensive experience in the mining and financial sectors in Africa. Bobby Morse, one of the company’s senior partners, is actively involved in BSGR’s case and also advises companies such as Australian Centamin, UK Petra Diamonds and Russian PhosAgro.

Another communications firm, Uae Solis, was tasked with managing Steinmetz’s reputation and assisting him in his recent Geneva trial. The company was founded by Philippe Manière, who previously worked as a journalist and headed the French think tank Institut Montaigne, and Arnaud Dupui-Castérès, a former deputy chief of staff to Jean-Pierre Raffarin in the French Ministry of SMEs. Steinmetz’s case is being handled by Guillaume Didier, a former investigative judge and ex-spokesman for the French Justice Minister.

The philanthropists

The magnate’s wife, Agnès Steinmetz, is regarded as its representative in the world of philanthropy. Born Agnès Bouaziz, she emigrated to Israel with her French family, where she met her husband in secondary school. She is co-founder and chair of the Agnès and Beny Steinmetz Foundation, an Israeli organization leading health and education initiatives.

Established in 2006, the foundation focuses on supporting disadvantaged children, adolescents and students in Israel. Since its inception, the day-to-day operations of the Foundation have been led by an Israeli legal expert, Iris London Zolty, who developed the legal structure of the organization. Steinmetz regards her as one of his most trusted assistants.

The top executives

Since the BSGR has been in the administration since September 2020, It is currently managed by Richard Fleming, Mark Firmin and Carl Bowles from Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP. Steinmetz has claimed that he has not attended board meetings in recent years because he was only involved in the company in an advisory capacity.

His closest right-hand man was Dag Lars Cramer. The former Anglo-American manager joined BSGR in 2003 as a director. He was also a director of Koidu Limited, the Sierra Leone-based subsidiary of BSGR, and Onyx Financial Advisors, which represented the company in London. In Guinea, Cramer worked with Conakry-based BSGR executives, Israeli nationals Asher Avidan and Roy Oron.

Steinmetz officially left the diamond industry in 2014 when he sold his shares in the Steinmetz Diamond Group to his older brother Daniel Steinmetz. Nir Livnat, also an Israeli citizen, currently runs the company now known as Diacore. Livnat recently teamed up with one of Steinmetz’s old partners, De Beers, to purchase five rare blue diamonds from the South African Cullinan Diamond Mine.

The mediator

Nicolas Sarkozy and Steinmetz have been friends since 2013, when the former French president received an honorary degree from Netanya Academic College, a university in Steinmetz’s hometown. Additionally, the tycoon is one of the institution’s most influential donors as his foundation provides scholarships to disadvantaged students attending school.

The former diamond dealer and the former French president-turned-businessman are in regular contact, and Sarkozy is eager to give advice to Steinmetz by drawing on his diplomatic and economic expertise. In 2019, the Prime Minister of Sarkozy and Côte d’Ivoire, Hamed Bakayoko – another close confidante of Steinmetz – was behind a mediation action involving BSGR and the President of Guinea, Alpha Condé.

If Steinmetz had the ear of both the Prime Minister and the President of Ivory Coast, as well as the favor of First Lady Dominique Ouattara, Sarkozy – a friend of the Ouattara and Bakayoko – could at least partially appreciate it. In addition, these Ivorian connections are a real asset to Steinmetz, as President Alassane Ouattara was initially quite closely connected to Soros, his arch-enemy.