Beny Steinmetz has been arrested in Israel, indicted in Switzerland, sued in New York, and found guilty of lying by a London arbitration panel. His Guernsey mining company, BSGR, has filed for voluntary administration and been ordered to pay a $2bn (£1.6bn) award to erstwhile partner Vale of Brazil.
Yet, speaking from his home in Tel Aviv last week, the tycoon was adamant: it is all a vast conspiracy. “If anybody conspired, it was Vale against BSGR, and against me personally,” he said. “They will pay for that very dearly, I can tell you.”
For more than a decade, the billionaire’s life has been consumed by one audacious, ruinous deal: an attempt in 2008 to vault into the mining big league by securing the exploitation