Diamonds: An Evil Scam

Diamonds are seen as symbols of wealth, status, and love. But despite what most people believe, diamonds are not actually rare. And one single company is responsible for manipulating the entire world into believing otherwise. Debeers spent the 20th century pulling the strings behind every element of the diamond industry. From mining to marketing to sales, Debeers controlled the diamond trade. And by controlling the supply of diamonds, they could completely manipulate the prices. The beers also pulled off one of the most successful marketing cons ever. By convincing us all that diamonds are much more valuable than they really

are, and that the only way to show you truly love someone is spending several months of your salary to buy them a diamond ring. What may seem like a romantic tradition is really an incredible scheme by the diamond cartel. So today we're going to uncover the truth about the brutal business of diamonds. From secret syndicates, apartheide, price fixing, and blood diamonds. This is a story spanning three centuries into one of the darkest and most manipulative industries of all time. It's a story of war and all kinds of human rights violations. And it goes much deeper

than you may think. This is the story of the beers and the evil business of [Music] diamonds. Our story starts in 1867 in South Africa when a young boy was playing a game with some stones. A passer by happened to notice that one of the stones seemed to sparkle as it caught the light. Intrigued, he asked the boy if he could buy the stone, but the boy simply gave it to him for free. That sparkly stone turned out to be a diamond. And once people heard of the discovery, a new diamond rush was ignited. Adventurers

from Europe and America rushed to South Africa in the hope of finding diamonds and making their fortune. Not far from where the diamond was found in South Africa, Ceil Roads, a shy and sickly 17-year-old from England, was working on a cotton farm when he heard the news. Ceil was born with a weak heart and lungs and hadn't been expected to live for very long. But when his older brother Herbert asked him to come join him on his farm out in the Cape Colony, Ceile's fortunes changed completely. The Cape Colony was a British colony in present-day

South Africa, and the dry climate did wonders for Ceile's health, which improved almost immediately after he arrived in 1870. But the two brothers were very different, and working together wasn't easy. While Herbert was impulsive, adventurous, and hands-on, Settle was reserved and awkward. He spent his days keeping to himself and reading books and spent his nights dreaming of a life his poor upbringing and poor health meant he could never have. Since he was a child, Settle had dreamed of studying at the prestigious Oxford University and living among the upperass elite he admired from his books. But

instead, he was stuck doing hard labor halfway across the world in Africa. So when the two brothers heard that a diamond had been found nearby, they were both eager to investigate. For Herbert, it appealed to his sense of adventure. But for Ceil, it was the chance to make some real money and turn his dream into a reality. Herbert was among the first to purchase claims of land to mine on the nearby Debeers farm owned by two Dutch brothers who had until now been living a quiet life with their family. This meant that Herbert had the

exclusive rights to mine for diamonds on these bits of land so long as he paid a very small annual fee to the farmers. Immediately after the Debeers brothers opened their land to prospectors like Herbert, they regretted their decision. Desperate to keep their family away from the greed, sin, and violence that rapidly engulfed their home, they quickly sold their farm and left town. And the Debeers brothers were right. It didn't take long for the local town of Kimberly to be transformed into a pit of lawlessness as thousands of foreigners arrived to try their luck at diamond

mining. And soon, hundreds of diamonds were being found all across nearby farms. But this was actually really unusual. Diamond deposits had normally been found along riverbeds, and until now, there had only been a small handful of locations where diamonds could be found at all. This had led to the common belief that diamonds were rare and valuable. A concept that was cemented in the west when European nations like Britain, Portugal, and Holland colonized the world and took over diamond production for themselves. Slavery, violence, and land seizures were used to mine diamonds and send them back to

feed the growing appetite of the wealthy elite in Europe. This meant that by the time of the unusual discoveries in South Africa, the diamond sources in historic locations like India and Brazil had all but dried up. By comparison, the amount of diamonds being found in South Africa was turning out to be unbelievably large. Rather than a few diamonds deposited on a riverbed here or there, thousands upon thousands of them were being found. And they were all hidden in a blue layer of rock deep under the ground that was soon dubbed Kimberlite. after the nearby town

of Kimberly. But while Herbert was off trying to make his fortune on the Debeers's land, he had left his frustrated younger brother Ceile in charge of the cotton farm. Although he was unhappy about it, to his own surprise, Settle was able to significantly increase the profits within a single season. But he couldn't help but wonder if he was able to do so well in charge of a meager cotton farm, how would he fare at the head of a diamond mine? Ceile's heart began to race as he considered the idea. Maybe this could be his way

to make enough money and gain enough status to study at Oxford and become part of the upper class elite like he'd always dreamed. So, ignoring his big brother's orders, 18-year-old Ceiles abandoned the cotton farm, took the extra money he'd made, and purchased his own claims on the Debeers farm. To keep his costs low, Ceile saw no issue with exploiting locals to dig for him, who he frequently referred to as barbarians. You see, Ceil had many different sides to him, and some of them were extremely dark. His obsession with the British upper class had also led

to an obsession with British imperialism, causing Ceile to see the British race and culture as far superior to the rest of the world. This meant he was happy to pay little to no wages to the local workers and enforce intrusive searches and brutal beatings. And as the miners continued to dig deeper and deeper holes, the already exhausting work became significantly more dangerous, especially once the rainy season began. Sites were prone to collapsing down on workers and the holes frequently filled with deep water. Nearly a third of all workers either died, were severely injured, or became

too sick to work. [Music] However, where others saw disaster, Ceil saw opportunity. He'd recently seen an advert posted in town by a local farmer desperate to sell his water pump, which Ceile knew exactly what he could do with. He spun a story to the other claim holders about how he had single-handedly tracked down the only water pump in the entire colony and fiercely negotiated to buy it from its unwilling owner, paying an insanely high amount that the farmer simply couldn't refuse. Ceil knew that sometimes the story is more important than the truth. The other claim

holders believed his story, and seeing no other option, they all paid Ceile fees to rent out the machine so they could pump the water from their mines and continue digging for diamonds. Just as he'd hoped, Ceile's story helped propel him to local fame. With many seeing him as an intelligent entrepreneur to keep an eye on, using all the money he made, he began buying other mining operations and consolidating them. He quickly became the largest claim holder on the entire Debeir site and this enabled Ceil to found his own business named the Debeers Diamond Mining Company.

Ironically named after the two Dutch brothers who had wanted nothing to do with diamonds as they said it was an evil industry. However, while Ceil was becoming wealthier than he could have imagined, his brother Herbert wasn't doing as well. So he made another impulsive decision to head across the country to search for gold instead. But soon after his tent caught fire while he was sleeping and he was burnt alive. Ceile was horrified to hear what had happened and decided it was time to return home to England to reunite with what was left of his family.

So using his newly made fortune, Ceile put one of his business partners in charge of the mine. and he returned home to England to see his family and grieve the loss of his brother. Whilst back home, he seized the opportunity to make his childhood dream a reality and enrolled in Oxford University. But within just a couple of months, Settle's health drastically deteriorated again, leaving him with no choice but to return to the drier South African climate that seemed to keep his sickly heart and lungs under control. Settle now knew that the only way to truly

propel himself into upper class society would be through his diamond business. However, as more and more diamond deposits continued to be discovered nearby, Settle began to realize an unsettling truth for his company's future. Diamonds weren't actually that rare. In fact, they were incredibly common. Since so many were being found, the global market was soon flooded with South African diamonds. And so their price began to plummet. Once again, Zeal knew that the story was going to be more important than the truth. To keep the price of diamonds high, he was going to have to make it

seem as though these common stones were as rare as they were once thought to be. But to do that, he'd need a way to control how many diamonds were going into the market. And this would lead him down an even darker path. Many claim holders had struggled to keep up with the rising costs of replacing workers who died from accidents and sickness and also the costs for new equipment as the mines got deeper and more complicated to work. But Ceil had managed to keep his minds profitable by entrenching himself in the government. By running for

office and being elected into the local Cape Colony Parliament, Ceile was not only able to promote his British imperialist ideology on a larger scale, but he was also able to write and push through new laws and deals that directly benefited his company, such as the ability for Debeers to use convicts that he could treat however he wanted and even kill if he suspected they were stealing. The Beers had also been one of the first companies to make use of a closed compound system for its black workers. In essence, segregating all of the black workforce and

keeping them permanently locked inside a barracks until their contracts expired. Inside these compounds, they were forced to be naked, paid extremely low wages and were punished regularly. Their entire lives, from the moment they woke until the moment they slept, were under the control of the bears. And to make matters worse, Settle was known for disregarding safety laws, endorsing invasive body searches, and treating any discontent with extreme violence. These brutal tactics had allowed Ceile to cut his costs and earn larger profits. And this enabled him to buy out other claimments who were struggling. By absorbing the

competition, he was able to get the majority of the Debeers mine under his control. However, another young Englishman, Barney Bonato, had the majority of the newer Kimberly mine under his control, and Barney's mine appeared to be larger and produce better quality diamonds. If Settle was to keep the price of diamonds high, he needed to truly control the supply. Thus, he needed to figure out a way to seize Barney's Kimberly Central Company for himself. Luckily for Ceile, as his wealth had continued to grow, so had his political influence. Having practically trained his whole life to be

among the elite, Ceile was skillfully able to blend into the circles of the upper class, something Barney had failed to do. This allowed him to connect with powerful and wealthy figures like Nathan Rothschild, who he convinced to back his plan to manipulate the diamond market. In person, Cecile befriended Barney, proposing plans to cooperate and strike a deal together. But behind his back, Ceile was secretly using his investors money to buy a huge stake in Barney's business. By the time Barney realized what was happening, it was too late. Ceile ended up buying out Barney's rival enterprise.

And with both the Debeers mine and the Kimbley mine now completely under his control, Ceile merged the two companies in 1888 to form Debe's Consolidated Mines. Ceile had wiped out the competition. As the most powerful man in the country, Ceile levied his influence over the limited voting population and was elected to become prime minister, which put him in a position for the next phase of his plan. Ceile helped introduce policies like the hut tax, which forced locals to pay to live on what was previously their own land. And in order to pay, they had to

earn money by working in his dangerous diamond mines, where they would be forced to live, eat, and sleep in his closed compounds until they repaid their supposed debt. He even made it close to impossible for black citizens to vote, resulting in constant riots and protests that he shut down with excessive violence. In fact, many of the laws Ceil introduced were instrumental in laying the foundations for the nation's future apartheid policies. But regardless of how they were received, these policies made diamond production in South Africa cheaper than ever. At only 35 years old, Settle now controlled

more than 90% of the diamond output in the entire world. And thus, he could now fully control the number of diamonds available on the market. He began to stockpile diamonds, releasing only a limited amount into the market to create the illusion that they were still rare as this artificial scarcity would drive up the price. To achieve this, Settle and his investors created a diamond syndicate based out of London where a small carefully chosen group of firms gained the exclusive right to purchase diamonds from Debeers, which at this point basically meant they were the only companies

able to buy diamonds at all. These firms were forced to buy a specific amount of gems at a fixed price with the beers stockpiling the rest to avoid saturating the market. Members of the syndicate would then sell their diamonds to smaller merchants who then sold them to customers. This single channel selling method gave Ceil and Debe complete control over the production of diamonds, the sale of diamonds, and the price of diamonds. They had created a diamond cartel. As a result, the price of diamonds steadily increased around the world. Meanwhile, Ceil continued to consolidate power. He

even had his own private army, which he used to take over other parts of Africa and mine for more diamonds. Ceile roads then founded the African territory of Rhdasia, named after himself, which is present day Zimbabwe and Zambia. Ceil seemed unstoppable. But in 1902, at only 48 years old, his weak heart finally caught up with him. Settle died with no wife or children, leaving nearly his entire fortune to establish the road scholarship at Oxford. It's quite incredible how a sickly boy from England rose to control 90% of the world's diamonds and become prime minister of

the Cape Colony, all whilst using the most brutal and cutthroat tactics. However, whilst the beer's leader was dead, the company's rise to power was just getting started. Ernest Oppenheimer had spent his entire life learning about the diamond industry and admiring the exploits of Ceile and his partners from afar. With his astute knowledge of the industry and razor sharp instincts, Ernest was quickly taken under the wing of several major players on the Debeers board of directors. and he eventually became the chairman and head of the entire company. Whereas before Debeers had tried to outmuscle or take

over all new diamond sources that popped up, Ernest had a different strategy. He instead chose to incorporate new sources into his selling channel. Ernest created several subsidiary companies under the bracket of the central selling organization known as the Cso that would directly purchase all diamonds from alternate producers. If anyone refused to be bought out or sell to the cso, Ernest found ways to undermine and disrupt their production. He used connections with governments to force companies to sell. He flooded markets with similar diamonds to devalue their products. And he even sent in undercover employees to sabotage

mines and equipment. If anyone did manage to produce diamonds that they wouldn't sell to Debeers and the Cso, Ernest would cut off their ability to sell by threatening to blacklist any merchants who dealt with them. As a result, everyone had no real choice but to partner with the bears. From hordes of diamonds seized by the communists in Russia to oldw world sources in India to new mines across the African continent, the beers led by Nest purchased everything. But since they operated under several different subsidiary names, most people had no idea just how much power and

control Debeers actually had. In reality, Debeers had a hand in nearly every diamond mine in the world, and they continued to stockpile all those diamonds. They released just the right amount to keep prices high and maintain the perception of diamonds being rarer than they actually are. However, many of the diamonds deers were now stockpiling came from operations that were even more dark and disturbing than their own. Mines in countries like Belgian Congo were built on slavery, child labor, and even genocide. In other parts of Africa, the diamonds were being used to fund wars and overtopple

governments. And unlike Debe's own mines, these new business partners weren't really under their control. This would later lead to some very serious problems. But to Debeers in earnest, none of that mattered right now, as they had bigger things to worry about. You see, between their own production and their mass purchasing, the biz was building up such a huge stockpile of diamonds that they were starting to worry they might not be able to sell them all. And this problem was about to be massively intensified in 1929 by the worst economic crash in history. In the following

years, the world economy suffered a devastating collapse known as the Great Depression. And needless to say, demand for diamonds completely plummeted. The American economy was in pieces and this was a major issue for Nest as the price of diamonds had been completely tied to the American market. In 1919, America was importing roughly $84 million worth of diamonds from the Beers. Yet by 1930, American imports had dropped to only $5 million a year. And since the beers was determined to continue buying up all global diamond production that fell outside of their own control, this left them

with huge expenses and very little income. Despite the state of the American economy, Ernest was still convinced the US was the answer to his problems. He just needed a way to expand his market wider to include everyone, not just the wealthy elites. In other words, to biz already controlled the supply, but now they needed to control the demand. So Ernest sent his 29-year-old son, Harry, to America to begin what many have called the greatest marketing campaign of all time. Or, as some would say, the greatest marketing scam of all time. With the help of an

advertising firm, Harry Oppenheimer was tasked with overseeing a campaign unlike any that had been done in history. Rather than focusing on a specific brand, they were going to promote the concept of diamonds themselves. In the early 20th century, there had been a trend of rings being given by a man to their partner when they proposed. But these rings had featured cheap jewels like birthstones, and it hadn't really caught on yet. That was until Harry and the marketing team laid out a plan to convince the public that engagement rings were a necessity for all proposals, and

more importantly, that the only stone worthy of true love was a diamond. Harry and Ernest wanted their team to interlink diamonds with the fundamental concept of love. If the general population felt they had to have a diamond engagement ring, regardless of their wealth or social status, the beers would have a guaranteed diamond market forever. Because if you can convince people the biggest romantic gesture is giving a diamond, people will buy it no matter how the economy is doing. So they began small using classy handdrawn images and planting stories in newspapers that focused on linking diamonds

to the ideas of love and marriage. To make sure this message got into the minds of young girls and women, they sent lecturers around the country to churches, high schools, and universities to give propaganda fils about diamond rings. Then they paid Hollywood studios and producers to insert scenes about diamond rings and proposals into their movies. and they started placing diamond rings on the fingers of Hollywood celebrities so the biggest stars were seen wearing them. Using a weekly service they called Hollywood Personalities, they sent pictures and details of rings worn by the stars to all of

the country's biggest newspapers. At the time, this kind of product placement was an innovative strategy, and most people didn't even realize they were being advertised to. But subconsciously, symbols of American beauty and the American dream became heavily tied to diamonds. And clever use of corporate branding, like having Marilyn Monroe sing the now famous, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend," helped hammer in the message for Debeiz and make diamonds the ultimate status symbol. However, to make sure they appealed to every segment of American society, they had another genius idea. Instead of putting out a recommended price

to spend on an engagement ring, they cleverly advertised that you should spend 2 months salary. This meant whether you were rich or poor, you still had a price in mind. They would later raise this to 3 month salary. And it's crazy really, the company profiting from you buying their product, literally telling you how much they want you to pay, but making it seem like a tradition rather than a marketing campaign. And when the advertising team noticed that men and women were picking out engagement rings together and that women tended to go for cheaper alternatives, they

added another layer to the message. And engagement should be a surprise. In a single marketing move, they forced men to shop alone with nothing but debeers advertising to guide their choices. Underneath it all, there was one message that stood strong. If you wanted to get married, you had to buy a diamond. And before long, the concept of diamond engagement rings was so ingrained in American culture that young couples believed it was a timeless tradition instead of a recent invention by a corporate machine. Because up until this point, engagement rings weren't as common. And most importantly,

different gemstones were typically used. But Debeers convinced the world you had to propose with a diamond ring. In fact, it's widely believed that debeers helped push the superstition about opals attracting bad luck as opals had often been preferred over diamonds before debeers got involved. Even today, almost a century later, many people are unaware of the manipulative origins of this still maintained tradition. But nothing captured the success of the marketing campaign greater than its key slogan, a diamond is forever, which has since been recognized as the greatest advertising slogan of all time. Not only did it

elegantly capture the notion of lasting and symbolic love that could never be destroyed, but it subtly hinted at something else. Diamond should be kept forever and never resold. By convincing the public that diamonds should never be resold due to what they represented, the beers prevented a secondary market of secondhand jewels, undermining their single channel selling so that people wouldn't buy secondhand from someone else. Like everything to do with diamonds, the story was of course a lie. Diamonds don't last forever. They can be scratched, scuffed, and even destroyed. But what did the truth matter when Debe

was making millions and millions in profit? At the start of the campaign in 1939, less than 10% of women in America received a diamond engagement ring. But within only 20 years, that number was over 80%. And within 40 years, diamond sales in the US had risen from around $23 million a year at the start of the campaign to an incredible $2.1 billion a year or around 7 billion adjusted for inflation. And with its success in the US, Debeers replicated its marketing campaign in different nations across the world. And soon it had huge markets for diamond

engagement rings in countries like the UK and Japan. In Japan, for example, the amount of future brides receiving engagement rings grew from 1% in 1966 to 90% in the early '90s. Even though a diamond is basically just a lump of carbon, the beers convinced the world that diamonds equal love. But all the time Debeers had been marketing the concept of love, some much darker events had been unfolding in the background that threatened to completely undo everything. Before we get to the next chapter, it's time to answer a question I get a lot. How can you

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weapons and aircraft. In many ways, the need for industrial diamonds was great for the beers as it gave them a way to offload their poorer quality stones, but in other ways, it was a threat to the cartel's dominance and single channel selling. Nazi Germany was particularly troublesome. The Nazis had forbidden all diamond exports, confiscating them for themselves in every country they occupied. Now, it's worth noting that diamonds don't look anywhere near as impressive when they're first found. It takes the skill of cutters and polishers to transform them into the final product we see. And as

the Nazis swept through Europe, they destroyed many of the key diamond cutting centers like the one in Antworp. And since this industry featured a large Jewish community, many of the skilled workers were taken off to concentration camps, never to return. The Nazis planned to create their own diamond cutting monopoly, one that Debeers would have no choice but to use within their selling channel. However, as Debeers was based in Allied territory and Ernest was a patriotic supporter of his home country of Britain, Debeers was publicly backing the Allies. But in reality, Ernest, just like Ceil, had

always supported his company's interests over any sense of morality or duty. So when President Roosevelt came to Ernest demanding he sell him 6.5 million carats of diamonds that the US desperately needed, Ernest outright refused. That is unless the beers was given permission to formally sell on US soil with indefinite immunity from any prosecution due to their monopoly which breached US trade laws. Roosevelt couldn't give nest what he wanted. So Ernest wouldn't give Roosevelt what he needed. But then President Roosevelt threatened to pause the supply of planes being sent to Britain which were needed to defend

against German air raids and the same planes that required industrial diamonds in their manufacturing process. So that's when the British government stepped in and pressured Debeers to make a deal with the United States. They eventually did, but even still, time after time, Debeers failed to fulfill the deal, claiming they didn't have enough stock. This caused the US to open an investigation into the company, leading to them uncovering a whole host of dark secrets. They discovered that Debeers had not only been lying to them about their stock, but that they'd been sabotaging rival operations to ensure

that the Allies would have to pay their high monopoly prices for industrial diamonds. The US accused the Beers of violating antitrust laws and price fixing, but it was unable to prosecute them as they weren't technically operating on US soil, not directly at least. And when they tried to get their allies in Britain to punish them instead, they soon found out that everyone in the UK government dealing with diamonds was either an active or former employee of the beers or the syndic. Roosevelt was furious at Nest, but he had no choice but to buy what was

offered for the prices that were demanded. More disturbingly, the same investigation discovered that Nazi Germany had almost run out of their own supply of diamonds. Yet somehow they were constantly receiving more. Through an undercover operation, the US discovered that diamonds were being illegally smuggled into Germany originating from mines owned by Debeers. Even though the US were convinced Ernest and his syndicate were knowingly selling to the enemy for an extortionate profit, they could never conclusively prove it to prosecute them. With the end of the war, these conflicts with the US government faded away, at least for

the time being. But controversy remained tightly bound to nest and his empire. While selling a romanticized dream of love to the American public, the new apartheid government had risen to power in South Africa. And as these brutal laws of separation, abuse, and exploitation became known around the world, it was hard for Debeers to claim ignorance when they were directly benefiting from the situation. And just as the global community began to take notice and demand action, at the age of 77, Ernest Oppenheimer passed away, leaving his son Harry in charge of his sprawling empire. In the

face of severe global backlash, Harry shut down the brutal closed compounds the Beers had been using since its inception and raised wages for its black workers. But due to new government laws, he still had to segregate his workforce by race. and nothing he could do to try and save the company's image was enough to get around the global sanctions that cut South Africa off from the wider world economy. In order to keep exporting diamonds, Harry had no choice but to focus his attention on other mines outside of South Africa, investing heavily in new African sources.

But to Harry's shock, just as he began to regain a degree of control, huge diamond deposits were discovered in Russia. To make sure these new Soviet sources didn't disrupt the already unstable market, Harry personally flew to Russia to negotiate a deal. In exchange for buying close to 100% of the gemquality diamonds produced by the USSR, Harry agreed to give Russia all the industrial diamonds it needed for its weaponry and machinery. The only issue was publicly Russia had cut all ties with South Africa. And this was at the height of the Cold War with the USSR

being seen as an enemy of the West. So Harry had to conduct all of these deals in secret, not wanting to anger the Western nations he was publicly allied to. And to make matters worse, the diamonds that came from the Russian mines were different to any that had been seen before. They were extremely small and had a different silver coloring to them. Harry knew that the syndicate members didn't want these lesser diamonds. So, he began forcing them to purchase bundles of different quality diamonds, including the silver Russian ones. They had the choice of purchasing the

entire bundle or nothing at all, which really wasn't a choice for them. It only took a few months for many of the merchants to complain. Debeers had spent years advertising a specific style of diamond to the market, and none of their customers wanted these tiny Russian gems. So Harry went back to his marketing team to try and find a solution. Together, Harry and his team once again came up with a genius marketing campaign. This time to sell diamonds to those who already had an engagement ring. They began advertising the concept of eternity jewelry that featured

a handful of small silver diamonds. This eternity jewelry, they claimed, was a way to show your wife how much you still loved her and to celebrate your anniversaries. Like their last campaign, it was a rousing success. Without anybody realizing, Harry and Deers had convinced the West to buy valueless luxury goods during the height of the Cold War that was directly funding the military expansion of their enemy. Debeers were selling the concept of love while funding the reality of war. But the general population had no idea about any of this. Instead, their attention had turned to

the African diamonds Debeers were selling, which were gaining a very different and very damaging reputation of their own. In the years after Harry had diversified into wider Africa, many of the same countries were beginning to declare independence from their colonial rulers. And these new governments wanted control of their own resources with or without Debeers. But Debeers wanted to make it clear that without them was not an option. As diamonds were smuggled out of these nations to be sold outside the cso, debeizers took action. These struck deals with governments offering huge financial incentives to sell directly

to them and stamp out smuggling on their behalf. In nations like Congo that had just become independent, the government was more than happy to take the beers's money in exchange for protecting their business interests. They raised an entire army to oversee production of the diamond mines, murdering thousands of supposed smugglers. In one incident, they gunned down 200 people near a diamond deposit, killing every one of them in minutes, only to discover it was a group of students on a camping trip. Before long, it became easier to sell to the deers and the cso than to

face the wrath of the governments, soldiers, and mercenaries they were financing to protect their interests. But as many of these new African nations became engulfed in internal conflicts, waring factions took control of the diamond deposits, using slavery and child labor to work them. They too were happy to sell to the cso and deers if it helped raise the funds they needed for their wars. But this time the world had started to notice that their diamonds from nations like Sierra Leon, Angola, and Congo were being used to fund these conflicts in which horrific atrocities were being

committed. This led to the term blood diamonds being coined, meaning a diamond that was mined in a war zone and sold to fund terrorism, warlords, or other violent activity. The West was outraged by the idea that their symbols of love and eternity were born in blood and death. With about 15% of global sales believed to be blood diamonds, the issue became so severe that the UN introduced embargos on the purchase and sale of them. Though Debeers was reluctant to join any embargos, Harry began to worry that the romanticized idea of diamonds their family had spent

half a century perfecting was starting to be eroded by its association with violence and war. It seemed at long last the story of Debeers's diamonds was no longer strong enough to overpower the truth. News stations, protesters, and human rights activists were calling Debeers out by name, accusing them of endorsing and encouraging blood diamonds. So realizing that this threatened their entire empire, Debeers agreed to the embargos and promised they would stop trading in blood diamonds. And in an attempt to regain confidence in their diamonds, Debeers helped introduce the Kimbley process. This meant diamond sellers would have

to prove exactly where the gems came from and how they had been obtained. They claimed this would mean every diamond could be proven to be sourced from either ethical or unethical sources. These changes seemed to end the public outcry. And whilst it's true they certainly helped, the reality is that blood diamonds still exist. The company's vast structure continued to be used to send blood diamonds to other nations such as Rwanda and Uganda, who would then sell them to the CSO through third parties, claiming they originated in their own countries. Suddenly, countries with no actual diamond

deposits were miraculously becoming some of the biggest exporters of diamonds in the world, and all of these supposedly clean gems were ending up in the Debeers selling channel. Another issue was that the scope of the Kimbley process certification was very narrow, which meant nations like Zimbabwe that weren't deemed to be a war zone were free to sell clean diamonds. Even though atrocities and human rights crimes were being carried out to mine them, while the media outcry had quietened down, the association between violence and diamonds never truly left public consciousness. The popular movie called Blood Diamond,

starring Leonardo DiCaprio, only helped highlight to the masses the brutal realities of diamond mining. However, it wasn't public opinion that was going to finally bring down the Diamond Empire. It was everything else that was going on behind the scenes. Here on Magnets Media, I tell the stories of different businesses which may have made you consider starting your own company. So, what if I told you there was a business model you can do from literally anywhere in the world with basically no startup costs, but still make crazy amounts of money? I'm talking about running a faceless

YouTube channel. That's exactly what I've done with Magnates Media. And now I get paid to make videos about whatever topics interest me. And because I'm not on camera, I can run the channel with literally just a laptop, which means I can work from wherever I want, whether that's relaxing at home or traveling the world. But you can do the exact same thing. Whatever you spend time researching for free right now or whatever you enjoy talking about, you could create mini documentaries about that. It's like running your own Netflix where you choose what shows to make.

And with the help of online freelancers, you can just outsource any parts you don't want to do, such as editing. And here's the exciting part. When you make good content, YouTube promotes it for free. And you earn money from ads, sponsors, affiliates, and so many other income streams. And look, I know the words passive income get thrown around a lot, but YouTube is one of the best forms of genuine passive income because once you create a library of videos, YouTube can keep pushing them for years to come. And every time someone watches, you're making money.

Videos I made years ago still get views and earn money every single day with no extra work from me. And that's why I think investing in content is one of the best investments you can ever make. Because unlike investing in stocks, which may go down in value, once you've made a piece of content, it can just keep printing money. So given how great the business model is of running a faceless YouTube channel, why don't more people do it? The reality is most people don't have a system to follow. They're just guessing what to do and

following bad advice that no longer works. So they never get any momentum with their channel. But here is the good news. I've already put in 5 years figuring out exactly what works. So you don't have to. You can literally just copy my system, which you already know is proven to work. So that way, you don't need past experience. I'll just show you how to turn your interests into a highly profitable business. If you'd like to learn more about this opportunity, just click the link in the description that says magnates media.com. Since this includes personalized help

from me, spaces are limited. So, if you're interested, click the link in the description now. I'll see you there. In the 1950s, General Electric patented their technique to manufacture man-made diamonds in a lab. Debeers was terrified as if synthetic diamonds caught on and were produced at scale, it could be the end of their empire. But initially, these labmade diamonds had been small and rough and only really usable in the industrial market. Still, since the beers had seen them as a threat to their business, they struck a number of exclusivity deals with General Electric. These deals

gave the beers access to General Electric's patent and enabled the two companies to divide up the western industrial market between themselves. Despite being identical to natural diamonds, these synthetic diamonds sold for less than 50 cents a carat. But because of the huge growth of the market, with industrial diamonds used for practically every aspect of modern technology, it meant that even when General Electric finally mastered making gem quality diamonds in a lab, they chose not to. It was more profitable to make barrel loads of 50 cent rough diamonds in minutes than spend days or weeks growing

a small number of bigger and better diamonds. Regardless, Debeers simply couldn't risk their deals with General Electric going sour. So Debeers decided to buy up big chunks of US companies that manufactured products like saws and drill bits from industrial diamonds. This would ensure that even if General Electric ever offered better prices or withdrew their exclusivity deal, Debeers could instruct these American companies to order their own diamonds instead. But this ended up backfiring for Debeers. You see, ever since World War II, the US Department of Justice had a target on Debeers's back. They knew the company

was violating antitrust laws as they clearly had a monopoly by controlling the supply of diamonds, but every case they'd raised ultimately fell apart due to the company not officially operating on US soil. But with the recent deals the beers had made with American companies, the DOJ finally had a solid case against them. Thus, in 1994, both General Electric and Debeers were in the American court, accused of price fixing and secretly dividing up the synthetic diamond industry. And before long, a number of US states also began taking Debeers to court. Debeers had spent decades sabotaging, undermining,

and bullying American businesses in the diamond industry. And now they had been shown to be operating in the US, they could no longer use this as a way to get around American laws. Debeers were found guilty on all charges and fined just shy of $300 million. This still might not have been a huge amount to them, but the impact on Debiz' operations was massive. As part of the settlement, they were forced to abide by US laws or lose access to the entire US market, which was nearly half of the entire global diamond market. This meant

they could no longer enforce their single channel selling within America, thus ending their centurylong monopoly on the continent. And while the beers were busy spending millions in fines and lawyer fees just to lose control over diamond sales, they were simultaneously losing control over diamond production. For starters, their deal with Russia had fallen apart after the collapse of the USSR, with many businessmen and local governments choosing to sell their diamonds outside of the cso. And at the same time, vast new diamond deposits had been discovered in countries like Canada and Australia. It wasn't long before new

competitors emerged who were producing so many gems that they rivaled the output of debears. And many of these companies actively marketed their diamonds as an ethical alternative to the murky history of the bears as did the producers of lab grown diamonds as they grew in popularity too. Between the new diamond production coming out of Canada, Australia, Russia, and newly independent African nations, plus the rise of synthetic diamonds, Debeers had completely lost control of production. With all of these new sources and rivals actively choosing to operate outside of the syndicate, the beers had to accept defeat.

They couldn't use the threat of restrictions to force merchants to take their diamonds anymore. If the beers cut them off, they just go get their diamonds from somewhere else. The years in which Debeers monopolized the entire industry were over. However, Debeers is still a major player in the diamond market with roughly a third of all global production still under their control and the modern consumer market for diamonds is larger than ever, estimated at over a hundred billion dollars. Given that lab grown diamonds are so perfect at this point, it may seem surprising the demand for

natural diamonds remain so high. As one tweet put it, "We figured out how to grow diamonds that are cheaper and better quality than the real thing." And so many people are still like, "No thanks. The suffering is what makes it special." But once again, it's the marketing. Ironically, after decades of telling people that the more perfect the diamond, the more it'll cost, now the diamond industry claims that the imperfections from natural diamonds are what make them more real and valuable than synthetic diamonds. They've managed to convince people that natural diamonds are more special, despite the

fact you wouldn't be able to tell any difference from a diamond grown in a lab. And thus, despite the availability of cheaper lab diamonds, despite the knowledge of the wars and damage diamonds have caused, and despite the fact we know how deers so ruthlessly manipulated the market, somehow their original lie still persists, that diamonds are forever. However, if you think the diamond industry has a dark past, wait until you hear what happened with the tobacco industry and the company Jewel. This story is crazy. So, just click the thumbnail on screen to check that out now,

and I'll see you there. Cheers.