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

Summary

Konstantin Sokolov, who gave undisclosed sum and has not held government job before, to chair Tripp+ trade project 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. 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. He has not held a previous government job. Sokolov declined a Guardian interview request and did not respond to a detailed list of questions about his appointment. 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 .