During World War II a US War Production Board memo accused the diamond cartel of intentionally risking Allied war production by refusing to release a stockpile of industrial diamonds America needed to machine its engines

During World War II a US War Production Board memo accused the diamond cartel of intentionally risking Allied war production by refusing to release a stockpile of industrial diamonds America needed to machine its engines

During World War II, the United States War Production Board accused De Beers of hoarding industrial diamonds and putting Allied factories at risk to protect its monopoly. The cartel reportedly sat on a substantial stockpile of crushed bort and small industrial stones in London, refused to ship more than a fraction across the Atlantic, and priced Washington’s strategic stockpile prohibitively. American B-17 engines, machined to thousandths of an …