Rami Weisfisch

Rami Weisfisch (born November 4th, 1946) is an Israeli metal trader. He is President of the Minor Metals Inc., a US company. Formerly he was president of Metal Resources Group (MRG), a Bahamian company.

Cobalt trading success

Weisfisch and MRG became a dominant force in the global cobalt market in 1999, when he successfully accumulated an exceptionally large position whilst the market was trading at around $6 per pound. Subsequently, MRG was believed to have acquired 30% of the 30,000-tonne annual supply for the year, whilst prices trebled to $18 per pound [Citation
last = Solman
first = Paul
title = Cobalt trebles as trader buys stocks
newspaper = Financial Times
year = 1999
date = 1999-02-12] .

Zambian cobalt scandal

The contract for the sale of 1900 tonnes of cobalt to MRG by the state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines for the period 1998-1999 was the subject of a parliamentary enquiry. [Citation
last = Cowell
first = Alan
title = Draft Audit Faults Zambia's Mining Deals
newspaper = New York Times
year = 2001
date = 2001-02-16
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9c06e2de1230f935a25751c0a9679c8b63 ] Although it was alleged that the deal was "imprudent and irregular", costing the African nation $60m in lost sales, no evidence of any impropriety on MRG's part was ever disclosed.

Legal battle with brother

In 2006 Weisfisch was engaged in a court fight in England with his brother, Amir Weissfisch (who spells his name differently). [Citation
last = Walsh
first = Conal
title = Warring metal trade brothers in £51m court fight
newspaper = The Observer
year = 2006
date = 2006-02-19
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/feb/19/theobserver.observerbusiness ] Amir claims that Rami reneged on an agreement to dissolve MRG, and is suing for $88m.

Emerald Bay controversy

Weisfisch is reportedly bidding to buy the [http://www.emeraldbayresort.com Emerald Bay resort] on Exuma. Local Bahamians feel he is an unsuitable foreign investor with no prior experience in running a resort. [cite web
title = Shady Character To Bid On Emerald Bay
url = http://www.bahamasb2b.com/news/story.php?title=Shady-Character-To-Bid-On-Emerald-Bay
accessdate = 2008-10-07 ] [Citation
title = Scandal-Tainted PLP Expat In Bid To Buy Emerald Bay
newspaper = The Punch (Bahamas)
year = 2008
date = 2008-07-31
url = http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj8CF4X19dI/SL8PP3iEpFI/AAAAAAAAAAM/XWhe7Z86Dtc/s1600-h/Punch+31+Jul+08+-+Rami+Weissfisch.png]

Weisfisch was involved with his son, Ryan (President of [http://www.maxwelle.com/ Maxwelle Real Estate Group] [cite web
title = Boynton Beach's boom: $800 million in new projects
url = http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2005/02/21/focus1.html?page=2
accessdate = 2008-10-07] ), in a real estate negotiation in 2002 between Jorge M. Perez and Nancy Graham, whose business dealings during her presidency of Center City Development Corp. were subsequently the [http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/voice_special_reports/ccdc/ subject of investigation] over potential undisclosed conflicts-of-interest [cite web
title = How Graham Unraveled Her Own Story
last = Davis
first = Rob
publisher = Voice of San Diego
date = 2008-08-29
year = 2008
url = http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/08/29/news/02grahamnarrative082908.txt
accessdate = 2008-09-18] .

Personal life

Weisfisch was born in Israel in 1946. He owns a substantial home in West Palm Beach, Miami [cite press release
title = Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Visits South Florida for Emergency Fundraiser
publisher = Business Wire
year = 2002
date = 2002-03-15
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_March_15/ai_83784927 ] [Citation
last = Waples
first = John
last2 = Dalton
first2 = Ricky
title = Weissfisch brothers aim to test cobalt users' mettle
newspaper = The Sunday Times
year = 1999
date = 1999-02-21] which was valued at $19,457,979.00 in 2005 when it was mortgaged to a swiss company [Citation
contribution = Clerk File Number (CFN) 20050436597
title = Official Record Books of Palm Beach County
url = http://www.pbcountyclerk.com/ORIS/records_home.html ] . Weisfisch currently resides in The Bahamas. He is married with 4 children.

References