Lev Leviev
Encyclopedia
Lev Avnerovich Leviev is a Bukharian-Israeli billionaire businessman, with a net worth of roughly $1.5 billion following the 2008 global financial crisis. Leviev is one of the most prominent Mizrahi Jewish individuals in the world and has been a major philanthropist for Jewish causes in Eastern Europe
and Israel
. His diamond mining investments in Angola
and his investments in Israeli settlement
s have been the target of protests.
, Uzbek SSR
in 1956, and today lives in London and Israel. His parents, Avner and Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharian Jewish community, and Leviev practises Chabad
Sephardic Judaism
. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family emigrated
from Uzbekistan to Israel
. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, learning the 11 steps of the diamond cutting process. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces
, he established his own diamond polishing plant.
After the Revolutions of 1989
, Leviev expanded his business endeavors into Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union
. He received the blessings for success in business and personal support of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson for his philanthropic activities, which include "an army of some 10,000 Jewish functionaries from Ukraine to Azerbaijan, including 300 rabbis. Most of the 300 rabbis are Chabadniks" - adherents of the Brooklyn-based Chabad Hasidic group. In particular he sponsors many of the activities of the Jewish Learning Initiative.
Leviev moved to Hampstead
, London, with his wife Olga and their daughter, Ruthie, in 2007. As a keen follower of golf, Leviev also maintains a house in the beach resort of Ponte Vedra, Florida
.
industry, real estate
and chemicals. Recently, Leviev hoped to get into the incarceration business, as a concessionaire for the first private prison
in Israel
. However, the Israeli High Court of Justice declared private prisons unconstitutional in Israel.
Leviev is currently controlling shareholder and chairman of Africa-Israel. Africa-Israel is on the verge of insolvency, asking to restructure NIS 21 billion of debt. Trying to save the company from bankruptcy, justice Varda Alshech has confirmed the debt-restructuring arrangement between Africa-Israel and its creditors. However, the justice expressed her disapproval: "The arrangement is far from being the best," Alshech said, because the company "is passing on the damage of its investments to its investors.".
Additionally, he is an international investor in residential real estate, shopping mall
s, energy, fashion, telecommunications, and media, which attained a market value of $8 billion in 2007. The value of the company plunged with the onset of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis, with company debt reportedly totalling $5.5 billion in September 2009. Leviev had purchased 60% of the company in 1996 for $400 million.
Leviev owns diamond mines in Russia and Africa, and is a major competitor to the De Beers
international diamond cartel.
In 2005, Africa-Israel completed a $230 million 5,800-apartment project in Modi'in Illit
, an ultra-Orthadox settlement in the West Bank. In early 2007, Africa-Israel opened a luxury jewelry store on Old Bond Street in London and was considering plans to invest billions in the Far East, Argentina, Brazil and Russia. Soon thereafter the global sub-prime mortgage crisis broke, and the value of Africa-Israel's real estate investments plummeted, particularly in New York, where it had invested heavily.
came under fire during the blood diamonds furor, Leviev increasingly came to dominate the legal Angola diamond market. Leviev says he presented Angola with a plan to reduce smuggling and increase revenue by funneling diamonds through only one source, while others claim the deal was clinched through Leviev’s connections with obscure Russian businessmen and his friendship with the president's daughter, Isabel dos Santos
. Leviev focuses on the benefits his company brings Angola, arguing that before his involvement in 1998, Angola’s tax revenue from diamonds was under $10 million but rose to $49 million by 2001: “The government of Angola has obviously profited from this venture.” When critics query how his company benefits not just the government but the people of Angola, he answers that the Leviev Group's heavy investments in Angolan diamonds "will change the informal way of doing business into a more formalized, educated system that helps individual families... We want to help people who work with their hands. We want Angolans to develop many different new skills.” New York Magazine reported in 2007 that a security company hired by Leviev had been accused by a local human rights group that year "of participating in practices of 'humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.' Leviev did not directly respond to the charges, but noted his charitable activities in Angola.
. Leviev was recently quoted as saying “This stampede for diamonds is now making one of the loneliest regions a bit noisier, and a whole lot wealthier.” In the Northwest Territories, companies are extracting the equivalent of a coffee can full of diamonds each day. The gems within that can are collectively worth $1.4 million. Leviev sees this new rush in the Alaska region as a new great addition to his already successful diamond empire. The mine which Leviev has procured has a 10 year mining license and has already been successful for the past 5 years.Some investors also claim that the takeover of this mine was due to Levievs strong government connections and an unknown Texan company.
. Leviev’s Danya Cebus company, a subsidiary of Africa-Israel, subcontracted the construction of Mattityahu East to Shaya Boymelgreen
. Danya Cebus is also building part of Har Homa
and Maale Adumim. In 1999, Leviev's company Danya Cebus announced plans to build new homes in the settlement of Ariel
. Through another subsidiary, LIDAR, Leviev appears to be the sole realtor-developer of the settlement of Zufim.
Leviev's devotion to settlement construction have drawn protest from outside the Old Bond Street store in his London home, to the Leviev-owned jewelry store in New York City
, and has impelled Oxfam
to make it clear that Leviev has not donated to the charity. UNICEF has also advised Leviev that they will not partner with or accept any contributions from him due to the controversy. In a press release, a spokesperson for Leviev described the protests as "politically motivated" and accused protesters of "deliberately neglect[ing]... extensive humanitarian and philanthropic work, which includes building schools, orphanages, and fostering economic development in communities around the world." Anti-Defamation League
head Abraham Foxman
condemned UNICEF's decision as "selective political discrimination" that "only gives legitimacy to those who would seek to promote a boycott of the State of Israel
and its supporters."
In April 2009, following public pressure for a boycott, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
announced that it would not be renting its Tel Aviv embassy from Leviev's Africa-Israel company.
(FJC), an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He is the founder of the Ohr Avner Foundation
(named for Leviev's father).
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. His diamond mining investments in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and his investments in Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
s have been the target of protests.
Personal life
Leviev was born in TashkentTashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, Uzbek SSR
Uzbek SSR
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...
in 1956, and today lives in London and Israel. His parents, Avner and Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharian Jewish community, and Leviev practises Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
Sephardic Judaism
Sephardic Judaism
Sephardic law and customs means the practice of Judaism as observed by the Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, so far as it is peculiar to themselves and not shared with other Jewish groups such as the Ashkenazim...
. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family emigrated
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
from Uzbekistan to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, learning the 11 steps of the diamond cutting process. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, he established his own diamond polishing plant.
After the Revolutions of 1989
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
, Leviev expanded his business endeavors into Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He received the blessings for success in business and personal support of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson for his philanthropic activities, which include "an army of some 10,000 Jewish functionaries from Ukraine to Azerbaijan, including 300 rabbis. Most of the 300 rabbis are Chabadniks" - adherents of the Brooklyn-based Chabad Hasidic group. In particular he sponsors many of the activities of the Jewish Learning Initiative.
Leviev moved to Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London, with his wife Olga and their daughter, Ruthie, in 2007. As a keen follower of golf, Leviev also maintains a house in the beach resort of Ponte Vedra, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Business interests
Leviev is an investor in the diamondDiamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
industry, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
and chemicals. Recently, Leviev hoped to get into the incarceration business, as a concessionaire for the first private prison
Private prison
A private prison, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. However, the Israeli High Court of Justice declared private prisons unconstitutional in Israel.
Leviev is currently controlling shareholder and chairman of Africa-Israel. Africa-Israel is on the verge of insolvency, asking to restructure NIS 21 billion of debt. Trying to save the company from bankruptcy, justice Varda Alshech has confirmed the debt-restructuring arrangement between Africa-Israel and its creditors. However, the justice expressed her disapproval: "The arrangement is far from being the best," Alshech said, because the company "is passing on the damage of its investments to its investors.".
Additionally, he is an international investor in residential real estate, shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s, energy, fashion, telecommunications, and media, which attained a market value of $8 billion in 2007. The value of the company plunged with the onset of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis, with company debt reportedly totalling $5.5 billion in September 2009. Leviev had purchased 60% of the company in 1996 for $400 million.
Leviev owns diamond mines in Russia and Africa, and is a major competitor to the De Beers
De Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
international diamond cartel.
In 2005, Africa-Israel completed a $230 million 5,800-apartment project in Modi'in Illit
Modi'in Illit
Modi'in Illit is a Haredi Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Modi'in Illit was granted city status by the Israeli government in 2008. It is located six kilometres northeast of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and is often referred to as Kiryat...
, an ultra-Orthadox settlement in the West Bank. In early 2007, Africa-Israel opened a luxury jewelry store on Old Bond Street in London and was considering plans to invest billions in the Far East, Argentina, Brazil and Russia. Soon thereafter the global sub-prime mortgage crisis broke, and the value of Africa-Israel's real estate investments plummeted, particularly in New York, where it had invested heavily.
Angolan diamonds
As De BeersDe Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
came under fire during the blood diamonds furor, Leviev increasingly came to dominate the legal Angola diamond market. Leviev says he presented Angola with a plan to reduce smuggling and increase revenue by funneling diamonds through only one source, while others claim the deal was clinched through Leviev’s connections with obscure Russian businessmen and his friendship with the president's daughter, Isabel dos Santos
Isabel dos Santos
Isabel José dos Santos is an Angolan investor. She is considered by Forbes worth at least 50 million US Dollars and as the most powerful and richest woman in her country and among the richest in Africa....
. Leviev focuses on the benefits his company brings Angola, arguing that before his involvement in 1998, Angola’s tax revenue from diamonds was under $10 million but rose to $49 million by 2001: “The government of Angola has obviously profited from this venture.” When critics query how his company benefits not just the government but the people of Angola, he answers that the Leviev Group's heavy investments in Angolan diamonds "will change the informal way of doing business into a more formalized, educated system that helps individual families... We want to help people who work with their hands. We want Angolans to develop many different new skills.” New York Magazine reported in 2007 that a security company hired by Leviev had been accused by a local human rights group that year "of participating in practices of 'humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.' Leviev did not directly respond to the charges, but noted his charitable activities in Angola.
Alaska Diamonds
The surge in diamond price in 2011 has caused diamond rushes in lesser known areas. It gave Leviev the chance to finally break into the US diamond market, giving birth to new towns all over AlaskaAlaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. Leviev was recently quoted as saying “This stampede for diamonds is now making one of the loneliest regions a bit noisier, and a whole lot wealthier.” In the Northwest Territories, companies are extracting the equivalent of a coffee can full of diamonds each day. The gems within that can are collectively worth $1.4 million. Leviev sees this new rush in the Alaska region as a new great addition to his already successful diamond empire. The mine which Leviev has procured has a 10 year mining license and has already been successful for the past 5 years.Some investors also claim that the takeover of this mine was due to Levievs strong government connections and an unknown Texan company.
Israeli settlements
Leviev is involved in the construction of Israeli settlements in the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. Leviev’s Danya Cebus company, a subsidiary of Africa-Israel, subcontracted the construction of Mattityahu East to Shaya Boymelgreen
Shaya Boymelgreen
-Biography:He emigrated from Israel to New York City in 1969 and worked in asbestos abatement. He was involved in small development projects, then in 2001 he became business partners with Lev Leviev....
. Danya Cebus is also building part of Har Homa
Har Homa
Har Homa is a neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem, near Beit Sahour. Built on land annexed to the Jerusalem municipality by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War, it is considered by much of the world an illegal Israeli settlement, although Israel disputes this.The neighborhood was officially...
and Maale Adumim. In 1999, Leviev's company Danya Cebus announced plans to build new homes in the settlement of Ariel
Ariel (city)
Ariel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank. Ariel was established in 1978. Its population at the end of 2009 was 17,600, including 7,000 immigrants who came to Israel after 1990. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement city in the West Bank., after Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit,...
. Through another subsidiary, LIDAR, Leviev appears to be the sole realtor-developer of the settlement of Zufim.
Leviev's devotion to settlement construction have drawn protest from outside the Old Bond Street store in his London home, to the Leviev-owned jewelry store in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and has impelled Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
to make it clear that Leviev has not donated to the charity. UNICEF has also advised Leviev that they will not partner with or accept any contributions from him due to the controversy. In a press release, a spokesperson for Leviev described the protests as "politically motivated" and accused protesters of "deliberately neglect[ing]... extensive humanitarian and philanthropic work, which includes building schools, orphanages, and fostering economic development in communities around the world." Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
head Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
condemned UNICEF's decision as "selective political discrimination" that "only gives legitimacy to those who would seek to promote a boycott of the State of Israel
Economic and political boycotts of Israel
Boycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel...
and its supporters."
In April 2009, following public pressure for a boycott, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
announced that it would not be renting its Tel Aviv embassy from Leviev's Africa-Israel company.
Philanthropy
Leviev is a major supporter of Jewish philanthropic causes and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CISFederation of Jewish Communities of the CIS
Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS is a Jewish organisation dedicated to restoring Jewish life, culture and religion in the Commonwealth of Independent States , the former Soviet Union...
(FJC), an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He is the founder of the Ohr Avner Foundation
Ohr Avner Foundation
Ohr Avner Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that was established in 1992 by the Israeli billionaire and emigre from the former Soviet Union, Lev Leviev and is managed by its Director Rabbi David Mondshine. The foundation was named in memory of Lev Leviev's father Rabbi Avner Leviev...
(named for Leviev's father).