Beny Steinmetz Loses Latest Round in $2.1bn Vale Battle
Diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz has lost the latest round
of a legal battle with Brazilian mining giant Vale.
He challenged an order by a US court to comply with
discovery requests relating to a $2.1bn arbitration award, but his motion was
denied.
BSG Resources (Beny Steinmetz Group Resources) embarked on a
joint venture with Vale to extract iron ore for steelmaking from the vast
Simandou resource, in southern Guinea.
But the Guinea government concluded that mining rights had
been obtained through bribery, and in 2019 a British court awarded Vale a sum
that with costs and interest now amounts to $2.1bn.
BSGR is now in administration. Vale is seeking documentary
proof that Steinmetz was more than just an "external advisor" to the
company, as he has claimed, in which case it aims to target his assets for the
award.
A New York judge ruled on Monday that Steinmetz should have
filed his objections far sooner and rejected his claim.
In February a Swiss court convicted Steinmetz, 64, an
Israeli citizen, of paying $8.5m in bribes to an ex-wife of Guinea's former president
to secure the iron ore mining rights.
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