Mr. Steinmetz’s business transactions have been investigated in several other countries, including the United States, Romania and Israel. His legal problems began after his group, BSG Resources, knocked out Australian mining company Rio Tinto in 2008 for half of the exploration rights to mine iron ore in Guinea, which has some of the world’s richest deposits. The company sold half of the stake to Brazilian mining giant Vale in a $ 2.5 billion deal.
In 2014, after a review launched by democratically elected President Alpha Condé, the Guinean government accused Steinmetz’s company of corruption and paid millions through a representative to Ms. Touré. The U.S. Department of Justice also investigated Steinmetz’s companies for possible corruption, saying some of the alleged payments were sent by U.S. banks. He was briefly detained and interrogated by the Israeli authorities in 2016 and 2017.
Mr. Steinmetz’s company entered into an agreement with the Guinean government in 2019 to give up the project, but the group is still embroiled in legal disputes with Vale and Rio Tinto, who claim to have lost money to the company.
Me. Duparc of Public Eye called for a public hearing for the practices of mining groups as a whole. In a statement, the group said the allegations against BSG Resources showed how “tax havens can be used to hide dubious or even illegal activities in countries with poor governance and regulation.”
Mr. Steinmetz’s family has connections with President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2017, The New York Times reported that a company had invested money for Mr. Steinmetz’s brother and longtime business partner, Daniel, along with his son Raz, have worked with Kushner Companies in dozens of apartment buildings around Manhattan and Jersey City.
Civil society organizations are pushing for proposals that will add responsibility for businesses headquartered in Switzerland for their actions abroad. One such proposal, which would hold companies in Switzerland liable for human rights violations and environmental damage committed by their subsidiaries abroad, failed in a referendum last year.