Maurice Tempelsman

Maurice Tempelsman

According to Rick Hines and Keith Harmon Snow writiting in 2007: "Maurice Tempelsman has a long and bloody history in Africa. When Congo’s first Premier, Patrice Lumumba, pledged to return diamond wealth back to the newly independent Congo in the early 60’s, Tempelsman, who began with De Beers in the 1950’s, helped engineer the coup d’etat that consolidated the dictatorship of 29 year-old Colonel Mobutu, and the coup against Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah; diamonds were at stake in each." For further critical information see Janine Roberts book Glitter and Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel (2007)

"Maurice Tempelsman is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lazare Kaplan International Inc., the largest cutter and polisher of "ideal cut" diamonds in the United States. He also is senior partner in the firm of Leon Tempelsman & Son, a company active in mining, investments and business development and minerals trading in Europe, Russia, Africa, Latin America, Canada and Asia. Mr. Tempelsman serves on the International Advisory Council of the American Stock Exchange.

"Mr. Tempelsman served as Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa until 2002 and is now Chairman Emeritus.

"A member of the Board of Trustees of the Africa-America Institute (and a past Chairman), Mr. Tempelsman is also a Director of the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, the Center for National Policy and the Business Council for International Understanding.

"He is Chairman of the International Advisory Council of HAI and is an honorary trustee and an honorary member of the corporation of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was named a Visitor to the Department of Classical Art of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

"Mr. Tempelsman has served on several Presidential Commissions including the President’s Commission for the Observance of Human Rights, the Citizen’s Advisory Board of Youth Opportunities and the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee, and was appointed by Governor Carey to the New York "Council on International Business.

Born in Belgium in 1929, Mr. Tempelsman came to the United States as a child. He attended New York public schools and New York University. He has three children. Mr. Tempelsman is fluent in several languages and his interests are in the fields of history, archaeology, and sailing."


 * Trustee, Eurasia Foundation
 * International Advisory Council (Chair), Harvard Aids Institute

External Resources

 * Janine Roberts, Glitter and Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel (Disinformation, 2007). (Great background on De Beer's and Maurice.)

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Dan Gertler
 * Mosshe Schnitzer
 * George Forrest