David Reuben, Simon Reuben

Simon and David Reuben were born in India. The parents were Jews of Iraqi (according to other sources, Iranian) origin. In 1950, the brothers moved with their parents to the UK. Older brother David began working in the metallurgical business of the Merrill Lynch group with the countries of the "socialist camp": the USSR, China, North Korea. According to David himself, in 1977 he leaves Marill Lynch and founds his own company, through which he works with the Soviet Union. In the 2000s, the World Bank conducted a study, according to the results of which it became known that the creation of the Reuben brothers' Trans World Metals in 1977 was financed by the de facto founder of Glencore International AG, Marc Rich. The management of the corporation issued a denial of this information, stating that this study was "ordered".

In the late 1980s, through Trans World Metals, the Reuben brothers worked with the Soviet company Raznoimport, according to them, selling small quantities of tin on the London Metal Exchange. In 1991, the representative of Trans World Metals in Moscow, Goran Stanovich, met Lev Chernoi, after which the Reubens and the Chernois organized a joint venture Trans World Group, which, with the support of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, for several years gains control over most of the Russian non-ferrous and significant part of ferrous metallurgy. The Chernoi brothers provided supplies of products from Russian metallurgical enterprises, and the Rubens sold them on the London Metal Exchange. Often TWG acted as a buyer of products and those metallurgical enterprises that were not controlled by the Chernoi brothers, for example, Norilsk Nickel (until 1997, Norilsk Nickel sold 60% of metals to TWG). This was due to the fact that Russian companies were allegedly not allowed to trade on the London Metal Exchange, or had greatly reduced rights in comparison with other participants in the LME trading system. Trading not through the metal exchange directly to consumers was less profitable. The Reuben brothers had historical connections on the LME either independently or through Marc Rich. In addition, information was published that one of the main lobbyists of the Reuben brothers was Lord Owen, a former British foreign minister with a business in Russia.

In 1996, the group of Oleg Soskovets, the main lobbyist of TWG in Russia, lost its positions on the political Olympus during the conflict with the group of Anatoly Chubais. In 1997, an information campaign against TWG was widely launched in Russia, however, the main blow was struck not on the Reuben brothers, but on the Chernoi brothers. 1997 was the peak of TWG's power, after which the company actually curtailed its business in Russia, having gotten rid of most of its assets by the early 2000s. This was partly due to the conflict between the Chernoi brothers, and partly due to pressure from government agencies (law enforcement agencies and power engineers). Glencore International AG becomes the largest intermediary in the sale of metals from Russian enterprises on the London Metal Exchange instead of TWG.

Date of information update: 2013.