Was George Soros duped out of $5M by the president of Guinea?

Friends of billionaire George Soros worry he was manipulated into giving $5 million to the president of Guinea.

Soros issued a press release about the funding — designated to help draft mining regulations — after spending four days in the African nation in 2010, with president Alpha Condé.

Condé has been accused of stealing the election and promising vast amounts of his country's mining rights to allies who allegedly helped rig the vote. Now, there are allegations that Soros allies relied upon questionable intelligence from the CIA and France's DGSE in reporting on the election.

In October, a reporter affiliated with organizations funded by Soros cited those intelligence reports in a story published in the French publication Le Canard Enchainé. The newspaper reported that Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz was plotting a coup in Guinea.

Steinmetz sued for libel, forcing Le Canard to hand over the documents. The French government reviewed the papers, and responded last week in a terse letter: "I have the honor to let you know that the document attached in your transmission of 24 Oct 2013 is not from the DGSE."

A spokesman for Steinmetz told me: "It would be very unfortunate if the false allegations about Beny Steinmetz have been enabled by Soros' cash, and that's certainly something we hope to find out."

A spokesman for Soros had no comment, but a Soros ally said the billionaire has been trying for years to stop the mineral wealth of the Third World from being stolen by corrupt leaders, while their citizens starve.

"There is corruption in Guinea, but Condé didn't steal the election," said our source.