Trump ballroom donor to lead state department’s $200m Armenia fund

Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born private equity investor in Chicago, will serve as chairman of a new state department enterprise fund overseeing more than $200m designated for a central Asia trade corridor, including investments in transportation, energy infrastructure and critical minerals, the Guardian has learned. The state department confirmed his appointment on Friday.

Sokolov was one of 36 donors, including 21 corporations and 15 individuals and family foundations, who Trump said contributed over $350m to Donald Trump’s ballroom project.

Two-thirds of the corporate donors have since received government contracts, according to research by Public Citizen, a government watchdog group. And several individual donors have received top advisory roles or political appointments, including Benjamin Leon Jr, a Cuban American healthcare magnate who was appointed US ambassador to Spain after his ballroom contribution, and Harold Hamm, an 80-year old Oklahoma oil executive who successfully secured tax breaks for his company and has helped shape Trump’s energy policy.

Sokolov is the latest ballroom donor to receive a government position. The sum of his gift has not been disclosed. He has not held a previous government job.

Campaign finance records show that Sokolov has given more than $12m to Republican campaigns and political groups during Trump’s second term, including $11m to the president’s Super Pac Maga Inc, and $443,000 to the Republican National Committee. He was previously a modest Obama donor and contributed $3,600 to the former president’s 2008 campaign.

Sokolov declined a Guardian interview request and did not respond to a detailed list of questions about his appointment. The White House referred questions to the state department.

The Tripp+ enterprise fund, where Sokolov serves as founder and chair, takes its name from the Trump route for international peace and prosperity, a 27-mile trade corridor spanning southern Armenia and Azerbaijan. A state department spokesperson said the $201m fund is authorized to make loans, equity investments, and grants promoting strategic private sector development in the south Caucasus and central Asia, including in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Vice-President JD Vance, during a visit to Armenia’s capital Yerevan in February, described the Tripp+ fund as part of a “historic transformation” that would “open up a whole new world of trade, transit and energy flows” .

When Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed the Tripp economic and security agreement in late May, Mirzoyan told the press they were “laying groundwork for the sort of economic engagement that allows Armenians to make money and find prosperity and Americans to do the same”.

It’s unclear exactly how Sokolov or America may benefit from the fund, or if he will receive compensation for his role, but Sokolov is a major shareholder in Armenia’s largest telecommunications company, Viva Armenia, and holds positions with the Northern Pillar Energy Consortium, a clean energy and fiber-optic under-sea cable initiative connecting Europe and Africa, and chair of Pelagos Data Centres, according to his personal website.

He is also the founder of IJS Investments, a Chicago-based private equity firm specialising in “future ready” energy and telecommunications, and Gotthard Investment AG, a Zurich-based private equity firm focused on financial services, energy and global real estate.

A state department spokesperson said the fund would abide by applicable statutory requirements, including annual reporting and independent audits to ensure transparency and accountability, as well as with applicable grant provisions including conflict of interest requirements.

Four US foreign assistance experts said that it was customary for the White House to select the board of US enterprise funds. Appointees have often had ties to the US administration, said Don Niss, a former program officer for US enterprise funds in eastern Europe, as well as cultural or business ties relevant to the fund.

“It’s not unreasonable for politically connected people to get involved,” Niss said. “It’s an issue when those politically connected people don’t have expertise in investment banking, private equity or industries related to the types of investments they’ll be making.”

Sokolov has been working as an investor for more than 20 years, including in multinational infrastructure and telecommunications projects. His personal biography also notes his background offering strategic counsel to governments and major companies.

A second former USAID administrator said plenty of wealthy political donors used to run the boards of US enterprise funds – including private equity founder Michael Granoff, a major Democratic donor appointed by President Clinton to serve as chairman of the Albanian-American enterprise fund in the 1990s.

Asked about Sokolov, they said: “The question is, does he have the ability to personally benefit from investment decisions? The answer should be no.”

The Trump administration has already taken unprecedented steps to deepen its ties with Armenia since the White House helped broker a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan last August, committing $9bn to boost its nuclear energy sector and selling $11m of US-made reconnaissance drones to its government, marking America’s first-ever military technology sale there.

The Development Finance Corporation, a government investment arm led by private equity scion Ben Black, has also announced plans to incorporate the “Tripp Development Company” to build railways and other infrastructure on the proposed route linking Azerbaijan to its contested exclave, Nakhchivan, and to Armenia and Turkey.

Sokolov’s appointment to lead the Tripp+ enterprise fund is only the latest indication of America’s commitment to bolstering development in the strategic corridor linking west Asia to Europe.

The US has operated 13 enterprise funds since 1989, when Congress sent $300m to fund investments in Hungary and Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union. Three years later, Congress authorized the executive branch to create new enterprise funds in any eastern European state. The Tripp+ enterprise fund was set up under the auspices of this post-Soviet legislation.

The Trump administration has asked Congress to expand its authority to create enterprise funds anywhere in the world, according to its 2027 budget request.

There are some indications that Sokolov’s funding pool will grow. Jeremy Lewin, a senior foreign aid official at the state department, told the Council of Foreign Relations in April that the agency had secured $400m to put towards the Tripp+ fund.

“I think that’s, like, one test case of many about how we’re trying to reorient foreign assistance, especially in the sort of economic investment space,” Lewin said.