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Soros persuades U.S. judge to allow $10 billion Guinea mine case arbitration

November 29, 2017 at 05:20 pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday put on hold a $10 billion lawsuit against George Soros in which companies controlled by fellow billionaire Beny Steinmetz claimed his campaign of defamation cost them a lucrative iron ore deposit in Guinea.

While rejecting Soros' request to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge John Keenan in Manhattan said the hold should continue pending an arbitration between Steinmetz's BSG Resources and the West African country of Guinea, which he said would likely resolve many underlying issues.

"We are pleased with the decision," said Joseph Baio, a lawyer for Soros.

"We are pleased that the court did not dismiss the claims," said Louis Solomon, a New York-based lawyer for BSG. "We think the arbitration will strengthen our case here, and look forward to continuing the lawsuit."

Soros, 87, is worth $8 billion and Steinmetz, 61, is worth $1.15 billion, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

BSG accused Soros and groups he helps fund of propagating "untrue" corruption allegations and paying Guinean officials to strip it of mining rights, causing it to lose its rights to the Simandou deposit in April 2014.

It said the Hungarian-born Soros had been driven by a grudge dating to 1998, when he "falsely concluded" that Steinmetz cost him a big business loss in Russia, as well as hostility toward Israel. Steinmetz is Israeli.

In Wednesday's decision, Keenan said Soros established that the "same key issues" in the April 2017 lawsuit underlay BSG's arbitration before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Paris, which began in August 2014.

Keenan said BSG would not suffer "undue hardship" by waiting for the arbitration to take its course, and that a resolution "will likely provide significant insight into, if not actually resolve" claims in the lawsuit, including fraud and defamation.

Steinmetz's ability to travel has been restricted since last December, when he was put under house arrest for two weeks in connection with a probe into alleged bribery of senior public officials in Guinea.

BSG and Steinmetz have denied wrongdoing, and Steinmetz was released without charge. On Nov. 15, a court in Israel said Steinmetz could leave that country, but not travel to Africa and all but six countries in Europe.

The New York case is BSG Resources (Guinea) Ltd et al v Soros et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-02726.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Tom Brown)

By Jonathan Stempel

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George Soros

George Soros lived the Hungary’s Nazi occupation. With Jewish origin, he was forced to change his name in 1936 (György Schwartz). He escapes from communist regime in 1947, and he arrives in Great Britain. In London he follows the philosopher anti communist Karl Kopper’s courses at London School of Economics. In 1956 he emigrated to United States with one objective in mind: to win half million dollars. Mission completed, in 2011 his fortune amounted to $14,5 billion and he was the 46th richest man in the world, according to Forbes.

When he had arrived in New York he founded his first investment fund The Soros Fund, which will be the first stone of Soros’ financial empire. In 1973 he founded Quantum Fund with Jim Rogers. For ten years this fund will break all records in terms of gains.

The most of people know him during the great depression of 1992. He speculated on sterling’s fall, and he caused important fluctuations such as the British currency was forced out of the monetary system. This bet allowed him to earn a billion in one night and he was called as “the man who broken the Bank of England”.

He is also a philanthropist. With Open Society Institute which group together twenty foundations with a goal to defend human rights and promote democratic governance. George Soros describes himself as a “stateless head of state”. Since 1984, thanks to his foundations he distributed more than $ 8 billion to various humanitarian causes in 70 countries around the world.

The man, who wanted to be a philosopher, thanks to his foundation he participates in the transformation of society. The speculator has become the destroyer of excessive liberalism.

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Soros Fund Management LLC Soros Fund Management LLC Investment ManagersFinance Soros Fund Management LLC (SFM) is a privately-held investment management firm now structured as a family office, but which was once a hedge fund manager. The firm was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in New York City. SFM serves as principal investment adviser to a group of funds managed for the benefit of Soros family cl fsients.	Founder
Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations Investment Trusts/Mutual FundsMiscellaneous The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities. Investor and philanthropist George Soros in 1993 created OSI as a private operating and grantmaking foundation to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. OSI has expanded the activities of the Soros foundations network to encompass the United States and more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each Soros foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities.	Founder

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