Joseph Isaac "Diamond Joe" Gutnick (born June 1952; Hebrew: יוסף יצחק הכהן גוטניק) is an Australian businessman, mining industry entrepreneur and the former president of the Melbourne Football Club (1996-2001).
[3] Gutnick became close with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his role as the Rebbe's Special Emissary for the Integrity of the Land of Israel.
In the 1990s, Gutnick spent millions of dollars campaigning for Netanyahu and against the Labor Party in Israel's elections to try to prevent the Israeli Government giving up land, which the Rebbe said would never help achieve peace.
[4][5][6] After almost having been ruined by the 1987 stock market crash, Gutnick was advised by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson to go back to the Australian desert and search for "gold and diamonds".
[9] In 1991, his company, Great Central Mines, paid A$115 million to prospector Mark Creasy for the Bronzewing gold deposit.
[7][10] In 1999, Gutnick along with partner Robert Champion de Crespigny was found to have illegally structured a takeover of Great Central Mining.
[4] On 5 April 2000, Joseph Gutnick, Robert Champion de Crespigny and Ian Gould resigned as directors of Great Central Mining.
Gutnick sued Dow Jones and Company in the Supreme Court of Victoria for defamation regarding an article published about him in Barron's Online in the year 2000.