The story of Lev Leviev is truly unique and interesting. A native of Uzbekistan was able to gain a foothold in the world community, make a huge fortune on diamonds, and become a friend of Trump and Putin. Naturally, all this is followed by a criminal train, a black market and muddy schemes. How Leviev succeeded – in our material.
Way to success
Lev Leviev was born in 1956 in Tashkent, when he was 15, the family of the future businessman moved to live in Israel. At a young age, he managed to organize a diamond polishing company. In the future, production began to develop, he entered the African market, creating the Africa-Israel enterprise. Leviev began to directly buy expensive stones, transport them to Israel, and there bring them to a marketable condition. This approach to business made it possible to increase profits by several times, and turn the enterprise into a whole holding engaged in the purchase, cutting, polishing and sale of precious stones.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the businessman decided to enter the CIS market, primarily in Russia. But in the 1990s it was hard, because the times were not calm, and either a higher political roof was needed, or agreements with authorities. Thanks to his connections, Leviev was able to make contact with President Boris Yeltsin, and thanks to such an important guarantor, he entered the Russian market.
Boris Yeltsin
In the domestic market, Leviev firmly entrenched himself in the field of trade in precious stones, but this was not enough. The plans of the diamond king were to increase political influence. He was supported by the Jewish community, and then the businessman invested in the creation of Jewish schools throughout the CIS.
In 1999, the cunning businessman realized that Boris Yeltsin was close to his departure, and therefore began to support the not-so-famous Vladimir Putin at that time. Largely thanks to Leviev, the current president of Russia was elected for the first time. The Jewish businessman both financed Putin’s campaign and agitated the local Jewish community to support Vladimir Vladimirovich. And so it happened, Putin became president, and Leviev received a close ally in the person of the head of the largest state in the world.
Putin with Leviev (center)
Leviev, like a real businessman, laid eggs in several baskets at once. In addition to the Russian market, he also invested in the US real estate market, where he met future President Donald Trump. Such powerful connections, of course, helped Leviev build a huge profitable business in the trade in valuable stones.
Leviev with Trump
blood diamonds
Like any multi-billion dollar business, trading in precious stones has many risks and pitfalls. Let’s start with the fact that diamonds come from somewhere. They are mined in third world countries, where no one thinks about either the safety of people or adequate wages. It is thanks to such an inhuman approach that this business brings huge profits to the owners. Leviev’s cruelty, even in this not very kind business, is shocking. The businessman is the owner of several precious stone deposits in Angola. In addition, he is also a trader of diamonds, which are produced in the African state. Accordingly, the budget of the countries is directly connected with the business of the tycoon Leviev. Therefore, the authorities get away with virtually everything. Terrible orders were established on his lands. People work 14 hours a day, almost dying. If an employee does something wrong, he is attacked by armed guards and beaten half to death. Diamond mining in Angola is the ultimate form of slavery.
Problems with law
A real detective story around Leviev’s business started spinning in 2018. The businessman’s son and brother were detained on the smuggling of diamonds worth more than $80 million. As it turned out, Israeli law enforcement officers monitored the family business for a year, fixing the illegal transactions of the Levievs. But even here some very inconvenient information surfaced. It turned out that the Jewish schools created under the auspices of Leviev, which we mentioned earlier, were not a gesture of goodwill. The ruthless merchant used them as a base for the supply of smuggled diamonds, and later sold them in the CIS countries. The Diamond King was forced to leave Israel and now lives in the UK with his family.
A year before, Lev Leviev had problems in Russia. The development company AFI Development, which was launched by the entrepreneur, turned out to be extremely unprofitable. In 2015, the company posted a net loss of $56 million. The loan portfolio of the construction business exceeded the assets of the enterprise itself by several times. As a result of mounting losses, the state-owned VTB Bank demanded early repayment of $600 million in debt. This was an adequate step in connection with the further reduction of Leviev’s business assets. The scandal has taken on a truly serious scale, but not in Russia, but abroad. It turned out illogical that the debts of a company registered in Russia to a Russian state-owned bank were of more interest to foreign journalists than to domestic publications.
At the same time, a documentary about Donald Trump was released, which talked about the connections of the former US president with the Diamond King Lev Leviev. It is unlikely that such a coincidence is possible. A group of people opposed to Donald Trump decided to maximize his friendship with businessman Leviev in order to put him in a negative light.
Difficult family relationships
In addition to doing business tough, Leviev also became famous for his callousness towards loved ones. Lev Leviev is the father of 9 children. One of the eldest sons of Leviev Shalom was declared bankrupt in 2019. The billionaire father decided not to help his son get out of a problematic situation, so everything only got worse. The external manager of the debtor’s affairs filed a lawsuit to confiscate Shalom Leviev’s luxurious villa in Israel. The chic mansion, located in the prestigious Savion district, with a total area of 2000 square meters, was estimated at 10.5 million shekels (more than $ 3 million). The debts of the son of the Diamond King amounted to only 700 thousand shekels. Levaev Sr. said that he was against the sale of the family villa, bought with his money, the house should go to the grandchildren. But the court did not appreciate such Leviev’s family zeal, pointing out that his son did not have the means to cover his own debts, and, accordingly, he could not serve such a house. Therefore, there was only one solution – to put the property up for auction. While the house has not been sold, after all, the regent of the first instance has not gained legal force due to the appeal, but this process is only slowing down the inevitable.
Portuguese
Against the backdrop of all the problems that have developed in Lev Leviev, there is very little room for maneuver left. As we have already pointed out, in the United States they do not like him because of the scandalous stories with Trump, in Israel he is suspected of smuggling diamonds, and in Russia the business went bankrupt, leaving behind huge debts.
In that short period of time when Leviev was engaged in construction in Moscow, he met the scandalous criminal businessman God Nisanov, who is also of Jewish origin. Whether due to religious affiliation, or against the background of common interests, the billionaires have become close. Leviev’s business in Russia went to the bottom, and Nisanova is gaining momentum. But this does not prevent them from working closely together now.
God Nisanov
A few weeks ago, information appeared in the media that Nisanov, together with Leviev, had applied for Portuguese citizenship. This is due to the fact that Nisanov wants to save his assets at any cost, which have been taken offshore for decades, and Leviev is looking for an island where he will not be persecuted.
Granting citizenship to such controversial people would be a huge scandal for Portugal. Therefore, the local Ministry of Justice is holding this issue on hold for the time being, trying not to comment on it. In any case, businessmen will do everything in order to save their belongings, and at the same time not end up in jail. Although they both deserve it for a long time.