Lev Leviev
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lev Avnerovich Leviev (born July 30, 1956 in Tashkent) is an Israeli billionaire businessman with wide-ranging interests, including the diamond trade, aviation, real estate and chemicals. He is also a supporter of Jewish philanthropic causes and is president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (FJC), an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He is the founder of the Ohr Avner Foundation, named for his father.
He lives in Bnei Brak, Israel, with his wife Olga and their nine children. He owns the Israeli TV Russian channel Israel Plus and Africa-Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company involved in residential real estate, shopping malls, energy, fashion, telecom, and media. Furthermore, Leviev, controls diamond mines in Russia and Africa and has emerged as a major competitor to De Beers. Recently, he started his own no-frills airline called Neshair.
Leviev was born in the then-Soviet city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1956. His father, Rabbi Avner, and his mother, Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharan Jewish community. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family emigrated to Israel. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, and following his military service, established his own diamond polishing plant.
With the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, 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.
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Africa-Israel Investments Limited, an investment company active in Israel and the Yesha territories. Known to be a champion of right-wing Jewish politics, in 2005, Leviev's company completed a controversial $230 million 5,800 apartment project in Modi'in Illit, for the Haredi sector.
Leviev is also the owner of the new high-end luxury diamond retailer bearing his name.
