FRANK GIUSTRA -WHEN APPEARANCE DECEIVES

The first impression one has when meeting the industrialist and financier Frank Giustra is that of meeting a successful man [1] who uses his wealth to help those in need [2], a great friend (and financial supporter) of icons such as George and Amal Clooney[3], and who enjoys important friendships, such as those of the Clinton family and (it is said) Prince Harry of England and his wife Meghan[4], to whom he is said to have offered his Mille Fleurs villa in Canada[5] worth 14 million dollars. The prince’s wife has been friends since her school days with Katharine McPhee, wife of Giustra’s friend David Foster[6]. But the house, apparently, is owned, through an almost inextricable network of offshore companies, by one of the most famous Russian oligarchs, the entrepreneur Yuri Milner[7], who six months ago, after the invasion of Ukraine, renounced his home country’s passport and chose Israeli nationality[8] – and has prudently sided against Putin, contributing generously to humanitarian aid for those fleeing war zones[9].

Milner is not the most inconvenient character among Giustra’s allies – as is logical for a businessman who earns his money in the mining sector, where it is impossible to avoid doing business with Israelis, Russians, Canadians and Australians, traditionally scattered around the globe to handle trading, digging and prospecting: Giustra’s friends in this sector, however, for the most part, are chosen from among Vladimir Putin’s most loyal allies and some companies with an inconvenient past during the Second World War. Not only do they have projects that are seriously harmful to the environment: in their plans there is also the laying of transceivers on the ocean floor to monitor the entire global maritime traffic, including submarines.

DeepGreen Metals and the exploitation of the seabed

In the projects linked to the ocean floor exploitation plan, also promoted by Frank Giustra, there are also military installations[10]

The biggest project is called The Metals Company: for more than a decade, a group of industrialists, trying to keep their identity hidden (as far as possible), has been working to obtain licences to extract from the ocean floor. This is an environmentally damaging project, the progress of which seems to leave much of public opinion indifferent, and which aims to destroy the last area of the planet that has so far remained relatively unscathed by the global environmental disaster[11].

Licences to excavate the ocean floor are distributed by a UN agency, the ISA International Seabed Authority, based in Jamaica[12] and run by a trustee hidden behind the facade of a Vancouver company, DeepGreen Metals: the real trustees of the ISA and its related companies are the Russian oil group Gazprom[13], Ališer Usmanov (one of Putin’s most loyal oligarchs, whose interests in the ISA are also linked to one of his global espionage projects[14]), a family of maritime industrialists with traditions going back to the history of National Socialism[15], and finally Giustra, i.e. the man behind a group of very young managers[16].

The main company in the project is The Metals Company, the result of the merger of the DeepGreen Metals group with other competitors, which was loudly presented as the creature of a few young managers, such as Gerard Barron and Brian Paes-Braga, without explaining how a group that needs tens of billions of dollars and several years of investment without earning anything, could have such figures. When Canadian TV presented the nascent industry group, Frank Giustra was called upon as a former expert – and not as a shareholder or promoter – to comment on its debut[17].

The reality is different. It was Giustra who gave the idea to Brian Paes-Braga (manager of Quiet Cove Capital^[18], which supports a foundation that focuses on child support projects[19]) to combine mining exploitation with an advertising campaign that would define it not as a source of pollution and mistreatment of workers and indigenous people but as an example of environmental protection – so Paes-Braga, called to head DeepGreen Metals, hired as director not an engineer, but an advertising man, Gerard Barron ^[20], who with AdStream, his advertising and digital campaign agency [21], has a turnover that, in 2018, exceeded 100 million Australian dollars [22].

Paes-Braga is at the heart of the DeepGreen Metals team: he is the one who called the other staff members to his side, since Paes-Braga’s work at Lithium X (a company founded by Frank Giustra[23]) convinced the founder to hire his friend, mining engineer Paul Matysek^[24], a financial broker who made his living as a magician and soothsayer as a boy[25] and made his fortune founding and reselling start-ups.

Brian Paes-Braga, Tim Gamble, Frank Giustra

Among his greatest achievements is the foundation of Energy Metals Corporation^[26], sold to Uranium One^[27] in 2007 for USD 1.8 billion^[28], followed by the foundation of Potash One^[29], later sold to K+S Ag Kassel (Germany)^[30] for USD 434 million in 2011[31]. Called by Paes-Braga to head Lithium X, he is responsible for several divestments and acquisitions^[32]. He heads a massive mining project in Guyana as CEO and majority shareholder of Gold X Mining Inc. Vancouver[33], which obtained the licence to exploit the Toroparu gold mine on the Guyana-Venezuela border, after the Canadian group Sandspring, which had previously obtained the exploitation licence, failed due to large initial costs[34].

But what Matysek is famous for is his involvement in the alleged scandal of the sale of Uranium One to JSC Atomredmetzoloto, the holding company of the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom[35]. Uranium One’s main assets came from the transfer of a company owned by Frank Giustra, UrAsia Energy, to Uranium One[36]. A political scandal, even before the industrial one. The links between Clinton and Giustra[37] are used to justify Hillary Clinton agreeing to the sale of a company with significant military value to the Russians[38]. Since then, the Republican Party of the United States has instigated several criminal investigations into the actions of Paul Matysek, Frank Giustra and the Clintons – all of which ended in nothing[39].

Who are the shareholders of DeepGreen Metals? There are, among others, the Danish industrial group Møller-Maersk [40], ERAS Holdings (an electronics company linked to the military industry [41]), the Allseas Group [42], the Canadian mining group Barrick Gold and the Dutch industrial group Fugro NV [43]. They share (probably) about 48% of the capital of DeepGreen Metals [44]. The rest of the shares are in the hands of DLV Resources Ltd. Vancouver [45], which is based in the offices of DeepGreen Metals [46].

With an outlay of over $130 million, in the autumn of 2015, DV Resources acquired 100% of the shares of DeepGreen Resources, which changed its name to DeepGreen Metals [47]. In April 2017, Brian Paes-Braga acquired 20.58% of DV Resources [48]. In February 2019, a group of shareholders, which keeps the identity of the participants secret, buys 100% of DV Resources and appoints Jasvir Kaloti as CEO [49]. In January 2018, she bought 0.19% of Lithium X [50] and joined the board of directors of this company [51].

This is an entanglement that conceals who invests the decisive part of the money. Fortunately, in official communications to the supervisory authorities, Frank Giustra admits that he is the new owner of DLV Resources and, therefore, that he has bought DeepGreen Resources [52] and Fiore Management, which is already indisputably a company of the Giustra Group [53]. It therefore seems clear that, for reasons of opacity, the main shareholders of DeepGreen Minerals are hiding behind DLV Resources. The reason is obvious: Frank Giustra is a controversial man and the entire staff of Deep-Green is made up of guys he raised in his industry group – in particular Brian Paes-Braga [54]. One example: Jasvir Kaloti, owner of the mining company Klondike Gold (which has the same address as Giustra’s and DeepGreen Minerals’ companies), has a contract whereby her financial operations are personally managed by Frank Giustra [55].

Frank Giustra with Hungarian billionaire George Soros[56]

One wonders why a Canadian industrialist is trying to prevent the public from knowing that he heads a consortium of international entrepreneurs proposing to dredge the ocean floor for minerals. Perhaps to prevent his reputation from suffering from the fact that this project has very serious consequences for the environment? Perhaps. Or perhaps the problem is the partners who, like Gazprom, are entities affected by the economic sanctions imposed on Vladimir Putin’s allies after the invasion of Ukraine. Besides, even publicly, Frank Giustra has never hidden his opinion on the economic sanctions imposed on Russia: they mainly affect the western economy and are a counterproductive effect of our subjugation to the political interests of the United States[57].

As for Alisher Usmanov, he has a bad reputation. He and Giustra have been doing business together since September 2007, when the Russian army decided to sell the AvtoVaz vehicle factory [58], resulting in an alliance between Usmanov (through the Metalloinvest group) and Alexei Mordashov – the Russian oligarch who owns the steel giant Severstal [59]. When Severstal bought its first mine in Africa (the Lera gold mine in Guinea, owned by Crew Gold AS Oslo [60]) in July 2010, Usmanov bought his share from Endeavour Mining [61] – another company of the Giustra group[62].

As for Endeavour, which Giustra had neglected for years, it is now back, despite being involved in several controversies over the safety and environmental sustainability of its mines[63], the focus of interest of Frank Giustra and one of his main partners, former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary[64]. A friendship that has been the subject of controversy, especially after the press discovered that Giustra was able to accompany the Clinton family on official visits to various places around the world where, a few months later, Giustra’s industries began operations[65].

The Clinton family’s support

From left: Sir Tom Hunter, Bill Clinton, Frank Giustra

In 2019, Giustra settled a legal battle against Twitter[66] over a number of posts linking the billionaire to crazy conspiracy theories about Bill and Hillary Clinton[67]. The posts do not raise delusional allegations like those expressed for years by QAnon[68], but much more practical things: the posts highlight the large donations made over several years to the Clinton Foundation through the Canadian company CGEP Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, founded by Giustra in 2007, after he had donated $31.7 million in cash to the Clinton Foundation[69].

The friendship between the Canadian tycoon and the former president arose after the end of Clinton’s terms in the White House, when Hillary was a senator and before her appointment as Secretary of State in 2009[70]. A friendship born out of one of the countless charitable initiatives in which Bill Clinton engaged after the end of his presidency, in order to turn the personal relationships acquired during his presidential terms into a lasting diplomatic commitment (and business)[71].

In 2007, Giustra and Clinton created the CGSGI Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative[72], a charitable vehicle that distributes funds to areas of the developing world where Giustra mines (such as Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Haiti): $100 million already paid out and a promise to donate half of its future earnings to the charity[73]. CGSGI has received millions of dollars in donations from the ‘Friends of Frank’, as they are known[74]. Thus Giustra has earned his way to the jet-set: charity events with U2 frontman Bono, fundraisers with jazz diva Diana Krall, or together with supermodel Petra Nemcova for tsunami relief[75].

At stake is not just vanity or tax breaks: there is also the hope of an afterthought. During Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013, Giustra sent millions of dollars to the Clinton Family Foundation. In April 2015, the New York Times reported[76] that the Clinton Foundation received four donations, totalling $2.35 million, from the president of Uranium One Inc. a Canadian mining company linked to the business of UrAsia Energy Ltd., a company Giustra had concluded deals in Kazakhstan for uranium deposits after he and Clinton attended a dinner with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev[77].

During this meeting, Clinton expressed her support (denied by most American politicians, including his wife Hillary) for dictator Nazarbayev’s candidacy to lead the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a pro-democracy group that monitors elections and promotes humanitarian, environmental and economic initiatives in developing countries[78]. A coincidence: immediately after the meeting, Giustra signed a colossal contract for the Kazakh uranium trade[79]. Giustra sold UrAsia in 2007 (his personal stake in UrAsia was valued at more than $45 million at the time[80]) and insists he never received political favours[81].

While it is true that Giustra does not directly hold shares in Uranium One, he is still linked to the company through other mining companies. Many of his close associates were still involved in Uranium One during Hillary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. Ian Telfer, who was president of Uranium One when it was acquired by Rosatom, donated $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation[82]. Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investors, held $4.7 million in Uranium One shares in 2011. He donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Neil Woodyer, who was a consultant to Uranium One and founded Endeavour Mining with Giustra, donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the foundation[83].

Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton^{^[84]}

Giustra and his business associates are very important to the Clinton family: a page on the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative website[85] lists companies that have donated to and sponsored the Canadian wing of the foundation. The electronic list includes names such as Endeavour Mining, Gold Fields, Gran Colombia Gold, Pacific Rubiales, Rusoro and, interestingly, Uranium One[86]. Presumably, the Clintons receive further sums through the offshore companies of the Giustra group – at least that is what the French press claims after an analysis of the Panama Papers[87].

Hillary Clinton’s role as Secretary of State also had a direct impact on the Canadian tycoon’s business interests. The book ‘Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Help Make Bill and Hillary Rich’, written by Peter Schweizer[88], recounts the links between the Clintons’ personal finances, the family foundation and Hillary Clinton’s years as head of the State Department[89]. Nothing illegal: many former heads of state mix business, politics and philanthropy, and both Giustra and Clinton have vehemently denied that their dealings ever broke the law.

Oil and timber games in Colombia

January 2010: Colombian President Álvaro Uribe (left) meets Frank Giustra (right)[90]

The effects can be seen: the uranium operation in Kazakhstan has turned an initial $450 million investment in Kazatomprom into a $3 billion deal in less than two years – a deal that is causing irritation in the US press[91]. Investigative journalist Ken Silverstein claims that it would have been virtually impossible for the Clinton-Giustra group to appease the US authorities without admitting that the group has been involved in massive accounting fraud since its inception[92]. According to the Wall Street Journal, Clinton also introduced Giustra to the president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, in the autumn of 2005[93].

In 2007, a shell company linked to Giustra (which donated USD 4.4 million to CGSGI in June 2007[94]), the Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation, renamed Frontera Energy, Toronto[95], paid USD 250 million for control of a Colombian oil field in partnership with Ecopetrol SA, the Colombian state oil company[96], and for the construction of a gas pipeline. A month after signing the agreement, Giustra and Uribe visited the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, New York[97]. In 2010, Hillary Clinton visited Colombia while her husband was there with Giustra. “A few days after Hillary’s departure from Bogota, Prima Colombia Properties, which Frank Giustra owns through a shell company called Flagship Industries, announced that it had acquired the right to cut timber in a biologically diverse forest on Colombia’s pristine coast,” Schweizer writes. “Days later, Pacific Rubiales Energy, a company of which Giustra was the Canadian face, announced that the Uribe government would grant it the right to drill for oil in six lucrative parcels”[98].

Schweizer claims that Giustra uses her relationship with the Clintons to profit from natural disasters, including earthquakes in India and Haiti and the hurricane in New Orleans: ‘These activities create a mask to justify their behaviour’. In the case of the uranium business in Kazakhstan, Schweizer claims that Clinton and Giustra used the AIDS tragedy to justify their intervention[99] – a strange thing, given that, in 2005, only between 0.1 and 0.3 per cent of the Kazakh population was affected by the disease[100].

Pacific Rubiales has been at the centre of various controversies, from accusations of collusion with death squads, to suppression of workers’ rights, manipulation of share prices and production data, and harassment of journalists[101]. In 2012, the company was criticised for starting oil exploration activities on land inhabited by the indigenous Matsés people of Peru[102]. It was claimed that deforestation and the drilling of test wells would threaten the water sources on which the tribe depends and that the activity would risk exposing tribes in the surrounding areas to disease[103].

In the Pacific Rubiales operation, Giustra has partners whose reputation is not entirely crystal clear, as shown by the investigations still being conducted by the Colombian judiciary into his mining operations[104]: the Bolivian billionaire German Efromovich, recently arrested in Brazil for his involvement in a gigantic corruption case[105], and the Canadian private equity group Catalyst Capital Group[106], known for its links with the cybernetic mercenary company called Black Cube and for having hired several managers from the ranks of Mossad, the Israeli military secret service[107].

According to journalist Thom Hartman, Giustra has other projects in Latin America that have received US taxpayers’ money: an $858 million loan for a copper mining project in Mexico called Baja Mining[108]. The project involved the development of an underground copper and zinc mine near the Mexican city of Santa Rosalia. Endeavour was a consultant for the operation[109], but Baja Mining is also an ‘official investment’ for the company, costing the Treasury about $420 million[110].

All this disappears in the face of the public’s perception of Frank Giustra: a good and wise man who made a lot of money in finance first and industry later. His friendship with the Clintons, especially away from America, favours his image. On his webpage he discusses ecology[111], promotes the use of ChatGPT (a controversial advanced artificial intelligence platform that can influence our thinking and limit our access to information[112]) and defends the sacredness of family and Christmas[113]. All this remains out of the public eye, and is perhaps too complex for many to deal with. And this, especially with regard to his plans to exploit the ocean, could have terrible consequences for all mankind.

Clooney and sanctification

Founders of The Sentry: John Prendergast and George Clooney meet the elders of Sudan[114]

So how is it possible that Frank Giustra enjoys such a positive reputation, when many of his competitors in the Canadian marketplace are openly opposed by the press and international NGOs? The answer probably lies not only in his ties with the Clinton family, but also in those with the Clooney family, whose foundation activities Giustra supports with generous donations[115].

In particular, cases, such as Burkina Faso, Giustra and Clooney work simultaneously: the former exploiting mineral resources, the latter condemning land exploitation and proclaiming humanitarian catastrophe. We are talking about a nation in which the wealth of gold underground, instead of being a resource of wealth for the population, has always been a curse. Much of the gold from the former Upper Volta mines is traded by bands of smugglers, and dug up by improvised miners, who live in inhuman conditions[116].

As far as ‘clean’ gold is concerned, the largest operator in the country is Endeavour Mining[117], of which Giustra is the founder and main shareholder[118], in alliance with the Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris[119]. The controversies surrounding the mines operated by Endeavour Mining concern periodic reductions in production (and personnel) in order to raise the price of gold on the market[120], and attacks by criminal gangs who, from time to time, steal the contents of trucks and kill local workers[121]. For the rest, the Endeavour mines are all certified not to be involved in smuggling[122] and try, as far as possible, not to support the Ouagadogou regime[123].

At the same time, Giustra not only supports, but runs as a board member, one of the largest international NGOs, the International Crisis Group, which brings together the cream of world industry and finance that conquered America in the years of industrial pioneering and has excellent contacts with the UN leadership[124]. But all this alone is not enough to achieve sanctification. This comes by taking part in the project to save Africa sponsored by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon: The Sentry[125].

Participation in The Sentry’s funding group is through the Giustra International Foundation, which helps support ‘an investigative and political team that tracks down dirty money linked to African war criminals’[126] and ‘seeks to disarm predatory multinational networks that profit from violent conflict, repression and kleptocracy’[127]. It is an organisation with a great reputation, in part due to the fame of its founders, but which focuses its research, perhaps uniquely among NGOs, on forensic accounting, and has indeed achieved interesting results in South Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic – and this on objective merits, not only because of the fame of those who initiated the project[128].

Elton John and Frank Giustra[129]

Founded in 2016 by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry seeks to curb corruption and dirty money in Africa (e.g. South Sudan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo[130]) that has passed through banks and ended up in off-shore accounts in financial centres around the world (mainly in London[131]), producing investigative reports and dossiers on individuals and entities linked to violence and grand corruption[132], acting in parallel with the aforementioned Crisis Group, of which Giustra is a director[133]. Giustra is pleased with Clooney’s work: ‘In one example, The Sentry’s efforts led to the imposition of sanctions against mining magnate Dan Gertler and his network’[134].

Giustra continues. “Gertler is responsible for the looting of much of the natural wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Sentry has been actively fighting the illegal conflict gold trade[135], which is allegedly the main source of income for armed groups in conflicts in eastern DRC according to their analysts. Every year, apparently more than $3 billion of gold mined in East and Central Africa reaches international markets in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and 95 per cent of this gold passes through Dubai’[136]. However, it is important to note that this is the market value of the gold not what the artisanal miners receive.

Spoken like someone who knows the problem: Frank Giustra made his money from gold and is sure that gold is the basis of everything [137]. He started in the 1980s, got out of it in the 1990s, when the market was in crisis, and moved on to the movies, founding Lionsgate, which is the biggest independent studio in Hollywood, and today is one of the producers who most support George Clooney’s film projects [138]. In 2001, however, Giustra returned to mining, founding Wheaton River Minerals Ltd, which today is a world leader in gold and silver mining [139]. In short: until the start of the ocean floor-mining project, Dan Gertler will remain one of its most dangerous competitors.

In the meantime, his mines are everywhere: Endeavour Financial in Africa[140] (in Burkina Faso, where he is at the centre of some controversy[141] and is linked to Aliser Ushmanov, known to be personally involved in international gold smuggling[142]) and Leagold Mining Corporation in Latin America[143], which has bought controversial mines, such as Minas Gerais in Brazil, which in the past (before Giustra’s purchase) had been temporarily closed due to financial scandals or mistreatment of workers[144]. Gertler, in short, who is certainly a bandit, is one of the few who can fight his takeover strategy[145].

The other sworn enemy of The Sentry is the Belgian businessman Alain Goetz whom the Sentry have specifically and persistently individually targeted over several years through a variety of ‘research’ reports and substantive lobbying efforts. Despite apparently knowing very little about the gold trade, Uganda or reginal dynamics they have invariably accused him of single handedly being responsible for financing the entire DRC conflict and have successfully persuaded the US government and the European Union in placing economic sanctions on his gold refinery, his business structure and him personally. Since the imposition of sanctions, the war in the DRC has not ended and has strangely escalated and gold exports and taxable revenues for Uganda have all but disappeared. Overnight US and EU sanctions ensured a transparent and well-run refinery and revenue generator for Uganda has been destroyed and the illicit and illegal gold routes have re-emerged and now no one knows where this gold is going.

Since 2007, the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative has been leading a campaign that divides the mining industry in two: on the one hand, the good guys, who do not harm the environment, who do not starve or mistreat workers, who scorn rebel armies and who pay the right taxes to the right governments (Giustra and his cronies) – on the other hand, the bad guys[146]. Causally, all of Giustra’s competitors are villains, all of his allies are among the good guys.

The Sentry continues, with greater clamour, the same campaign, fighting the mining industry in Congo DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic (all countries where Giustra does not operate)[147] and forgetting about other areas, first and foremost West Sub-Saharan Africa, where Endeavour Mining works[148]. It is truly a masterpiece, from a communications point of view: using Bill Clinton and George Clooney to divide the managers of the world’s gold mines between loving and vicious, regardless of the actual operation of the mines themselves.

The Sawiris family and La Mancha

Naguib Sawiris between two leaders of the North Korean regime[149]

In July 2012, Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian telecommunications billionaire from Algeria to Pakistan, acquired his first mining company for around USD 500 million: La Mancha Resources, in Vancouver. Ironically, just a year later Naguib was blocked by the Canadian government from trying to buy Allstream, at which point Naguib publicly declared that he was done with business in that country and moved the group’s headquarters to Luxembourg and offices to London[150].

La Mancha is an international gold producer with operations in Australia, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Argentina. The company was acquired to be restructured and resold[151], turning it into a financial vehicle for the Sawiris family for mining investments[152]. La Mancha is at the centre of numerous controversies[153]. Sawiris has been accused of making illegal political donations to a group affiliated with the 2012 US presidential election[154]. The same accusation was levelled at former Endeavour CEO Neil Woodyer[155]. Giustra was chairman of Endeavour Financial from 2001 to 2007 and in 2015[156]. To this day, Giustra still holds 6.8 million shares in Endeavour Mining[157], is a director of La Mancha[158] and has no problem with Sawiris’s religious war against the Egyptian government[159] or, to be more precise, with the war unleashed by the government that resulted from the Arab Spring against his family.

It is a war fought with convictions for fraud[160], tax evasion[161], with a criminal case against him for publishing a cartoon on Islam[162] (Sawiris is a Christian-Coptic), and culminating in 2017, when the Egyptian billionaire accused Saudi Arabia of being a den of corruption and Prince Bin Salman of being just ‘a young man’[163]. But Sawiris also has bad relations in the West, given his conviction in Madagascar in 2019[164] and suspicions about possible bribery related to the acquisition of an Italian telecommunications company[165]. But the reason Sawiris is most opposed is the fact that until the end of 2017 he was a partner[166] in both the banking and telephony sectors with the dictatorial government of North Korea, in open violation of international sanctions against that country[167].

La Mancha Resources is linked to Areva, a French nuclear energy company, as the latter has long been a co-owner, together with Sawiris, of the Canadian mining company[168]. Areva was involved in a dispute over the $2.5 billion purchase of the uranium miner UraMin, following reports of fraudulent activity[169]. A French court sentenced Areva for the death from lung cancer of a former employee of one of its uranium mines in Niger. Greenpeace accuses Areva of neglecting the health and safety of its workers[170].

Being a nice guy

5 November 2014: Frank Giustra receives the Humanitarian Award from the Dalai Lama in recognition of his social commitment to the poor and underprivileged[171]

Frank Giustra has many medals on his chest, not least that received by the religious leader of the Tibetans in exile. In his professional career, he can boast the rare achievement of never having been in trouble with the law, of never having been investigated for corruption, environmental disaster or embezzlement of his workers. However, the strongest impression made by his feverish philanthropic activity and his association with Hollywood personalities and politicians is that he is likeable. Undoubtedly, this is a great gift, even in business.

In these lines, we have tried to make him more ‘normal’, in short, to give an image more in keeping with that of a man who earns money through mining, financial speculation, and whose network of relations, even if managed prudently and shrewdly, is that of anyone who manages to reach the pinnacle of an industrial career, working with those who are at his disposal, no matter if Russian oligarchs, Egyptian billionaires, leaders of dictatorial regimes or officials of South American countries. Life is never a picnic at the altitudes where an entrepreneur like Frank Giustra lives.

But his influence on the planet should not be mixed up with his public image: if he really were to take part in the exploitation of the ocean depths, or if he were to have something to do with the deployment of extremely intrusive digital control systems linked to military activities, whose aims are certainly not defensive, then one has to wonder whether it is right to ask him to change course: not because he is dishonest, since he has shown that he is not, but because he could become, with his power and an unscrupulous way of using it, a danger to the whole planet. Even if Frank then hugs Elton John or visits poor children with George Clooney and Bill Clinton.

USA021

[1] https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/mittelstand/familienunternehmer/lions-gate-gruender-wie-frank-giustra-vom-bwl-studenten-zum-milliardaer-wurde/25509566.html?ticket=ST-13082245-i0plHI97rqGQwussSbo5-ap1

[2] https://lavca.org/2010/06/09/clinton-giustra-and-slim-launch-usd-20-million-fund-in-colombia/ ; https://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/clinton-giustra-enterprise-partnership ; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clinton-pledges-ocean-protection/

[3] https://giustrafoundation.org/news/frank-giustra-direct-impact-philanthropy/

[4] https://pagesix.com/2020/01/12/canadian-billionaire-frank-giustra-providing-luxe-hideout-for-prince-harry-meghan-markle/ ; https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-island-mansion-harry-meghan-yuri-milner-pandora-1.6419328

[5] https://kaztag.kz/en/news/figurant-of-uranium-scandal-in-kazakhstan-lent-harry-and-meghan-14m-holiday-mansion ; https://pagesix.com/2020/01/12/canadian-billionaire-frank-giustra-providing-luxe-hideout-for-prince-harry-meghan-markle/ ; https://pagesix.com/2020/01/12/canadian-billionaire-frank-giustra-providing-luxe-hideout-for-prince-harry-meghan-markle/

[6] https://pagesix.com/2020/01/12/canadian-billionaire-frank-giustra-providing-luxe-hideout-for-prince-harry-meghan-markle/

[7] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-island-mansion-harry-meghan-yuri-milner-pandora-1.6419328

[8] https://www.yurimilner.com/fact-sheet ; https://www.reuters.com/world/billionaire-investor-yuri-milner-relinquishes-russian-citizenship-2022-10-11/

[9] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-03-21/yuri-milner-quits-vladimir-putin-after-ukraine-invasion ; https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2022/04/28/russian-born-billionaire-yuri-milner-pledges-100-million-to-help-ukrainian-refugees/?sh=1146e03d4deb

[10] BASI MILITARI E MINIERE: IL VOLTO NUOVO DEL FONDO DELL’OCEANO | IBI World Italia

[11] DEEP SEA MINING | IBI World Italia

[12] LO SFRUTTAMENTO DEI FONDALI OCEANICI, NUOVA FRONTIERA DELL’AUTODISTRUZIONE DELL’UMANITÀ | IBI World Italia

[13] BASI MILITARI E MINIERE: IL VOLTO NUOVO DEL FONDO DELL’OCEANO | IBI World Italia

[14] ALIŠER USMANOV: GLI SGUARDI INDISCRETI DI UN OLIGARCA SUL MONDO | IBI World Italia

[15] HEEREMA: IL LUNGO VIAGGIO DAL NAZISMO ALLO SFRUTTAMENTO DEI FONDALI OCEANICI | IBI World Italia

[16] DEEP SEA MINING | IBI World Italia

[17] DEEP SEA MINING | IBI World Italia

^[18] https://quietcovefoundation.com/who-we-are/

[19] https://quietcovefoundation.com/who-we-support/

^[20] https://www.mining.com/web/minings-tesla-moment-deepgreen-harvests-clean-metals-seafloor/

[21] https://www.adstream.com/

[22] 2018.12.31 AdStream Holdings Pty. Ltd. Sydney, page 1

[23] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-pursuit-of-wealth-for-the-greater-good/article688229/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20160604222614/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=1227e085-a744-4f9e-aef8-cf646d92f72f

^[24] https://stockhouse.com/opinion/independent-reports/2016/01/13/lithium-x-bases-loaded

[25] https://www.bcbusiness.ca/Entrepreneur-of-the-Year-2018-MiningResources

^[26] https://emetalsinc.com

^[27] https://www.uranium1.com

^[28] https://www.manufacturing.net/supply-chain/news/13061879/uranium-one-announces-acquisition-of-energy-metals-corporation

^[29] https://www.sedar.com/DisplayProfile.do?lang=EN&issuerType=03&issuerNo=00007718

^[30] https://www.kpluss.com/de-de/

[31] https://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/industrie/a-730490.html ; https://www.waz-online.de/Nachrichten/Wirtschaft/K-S-kauft-Kalikapazitaet-in-Kanada ; https://www.kpluss.com/en-us/investor-relations/publications/announcements/release-of-insider-information-according-to-section-17-mar/Potash-One-agrees-to-friendly-takeover-by-KS-for-CAD-4.50-per-share-in-cash/

^[32] http://www.lithium-x.com

[33] https://goldxmining.com/management/

[34] https://goldxmining.com/overview-toroparu-gold-project/

[35] https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/facts-uranium-one/

[36] https://www.investegate.co.uk/urasia-energy-ltd–uuu-/rns/plans-merger-with-sxr-uranium/200702120726400752R/

[37] https://www.businessinsider.com/frank-giustras-amazing-comment-about-bill-clinton-2015-4?IR=T

[38] https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/facts-uranium-one/

[39] https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/obama-era-uranium-deal/index.html

[40] Møller-Mærsk and DeepGreen Minerals

[41] https://eras-holdings.com/ ; https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=edward-mitri-karkar&pid=168867334&fhid=2281

[42] https://www.offshore-energy.biz/deepgreen-and-allseas-form-seafloor-mining-alliance/

[43] https://www.marinetechnologynews.com/news/fugro-commences-mining-support-559710 ; https://www.offshore-energy.biz/fugro-assists-nori-in-subsea-mining/

[44] https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/deepgreen-metals-private-equity–722479ea

[45] DLV Resources Ltd. Vancouver

[46] 2019.02.26 DLV Resources Ltd. Vancouver

[47] DV Resources and DeepGreen Metals ; https://stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/dvrrf/dlv-resources-ltd?postid=26303698

[48] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dv-resources-ltd-announces-change-200100522.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFl9PGAI0avG-pwZTguChBqL-nDWkF2HXm2yTde7dYN1vJ28wypcKBM78LsvP55Il-PJDXcMyopp4iP-ML3ZiRJNx2AKVbpIA5O9EnkOOgpDk1BgN2-vcl27zQ2hz1kaSKJ3b9I9jqJuJnFjHCUIXyYqXrFJY2xNwfm_7ZcI5Z5T

[49] DLV Resources Ltd. Vancouver

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[51] 2020.11.09 Lithium X Energy Corporation Vancouver

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[58] https://vz.ru/economy/2007/9/28/113177.html ; http://www.ukrrudprom.com/news/sdfhgffghf025510202.html ; https://rg.ru/2007/09/27/avtovaz.html ; https://www.wardsauto.com/russias-mordashov-usmanov-eye-avtovaz-stake-ifax

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[105] https://www.financecolombia.com/efromovich-brothers-cleared-of-corruption-charges-in-brazil/ ; https://www.reuters.com/article/brazil-corruption-idUKL1N2FL0N3 ; https://colombiareports.com/amp/brazil-arrests-former-avianca-ceo-on-bribery-charges/

[106] https://rutasdelconflicto.com/especiales/pacific/empresa/introduccion.html ; https://rutasdelconflicto.com/especiales/pacific/empresa/reestructuracion.html

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[109] https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/endeavour-is-financial-advisor-on-baja-minings-us858-million-financingfacility-for-the-development-of-the-boleo-project-545626582.html

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[111] https://frankgiustra.com/posts/theres-a-decrepit-supertanker-off-the-coast-of-yemen-its-another-exxon-valdez-disaster-just-waiting-to-happen/

[112] https://frankgiustra.com/posts/an-interview-with-chat/

[113] https://frankgiustra.com/posts/there-is-no-better-day-than-christmas-to-pause-and-reflect-and-hope-for-humanity/