Trump administration gave firm with ties to ballroom donor the green light to do business with a sanctioned Russian bank

A company linked to a major Trump donor received authorization from the Treasury Department to complete an acquisition involving a sanctioned Russian bank, according to public records.

The Texas-based Dynamic Frontier Holdings purchased Teghut, one of Armenia’s largest copper mines, this summer. Dynamic Frontier’s manager is Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-American businessman who was one of three dozen private donors to President Donald Trump’s $350 million White House ballroom project.

Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank was Teghut’s primary shareholder and creditor prior to the purchase. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned VTB Bank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, describing it as a “critical artery” of the country’s financial system.

The sanctions prohibit U.S. companies and individuals from transacting with VTB Bank. But on Sept. 3, Dynamic Frontier said in a press statement that it had “received authorization from the U.S. Department of the Treasury” on June 1 to acquire all of Teghut’s shares and outstanding debt.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, can grant a license to individuals or companies to complete transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by sanctions. OFAC states on its website that it may grant a license to do business with sanctioned Russian entities when it is in the interest of the applicant and the U.S. government.

A spokesperson for Sokolov confirmed to ICIJ that OFAC granted a license to Dynamic Frontier to complete the acquisition of Teghut’s shares and debt. The spokesperson also said there was “no evidential basis” to draw any link between Sokolov’s donations and the approval of the license, and that any suggestion otherwise “would be incorrect and wholly misplaced.”

The Treasury Department did not answer questions about the license.

As far back as April, VTB’s chairman said that his bank was in “the final stages” of selling Teghut and Armenia’s Radio Azatutyun identified Sokolov as the mine’s likely buyer. In July, the buyer was reported to be a company founded by Sergei Virabyan, a former Armenian government official and banking executive. Virabyan refused to answer when asked whether Sokolov was the true owner of the mine, describing the information as a “commercial secret.”

In a statement, the spokesperson for Sokolov said Dynamic Frontier’s acquisition of Teghut “represents a long-term commitment to one of Armenia’s most strategically important mineral assets,” and that the company’s goal is to revitalize the mine and significantly increase its production. The transaction, the spokesperson said, “will help secure Armenia’s position and sovereignty in the critical minerals space.”

Sokolov was born in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 1975 and immigrated to the United States at 21 years old, according to his personal website. In the late 2000s, he helped launch an investment fund that backed Russian real estate and hospitality projects.

nd how he will manage his overlapping public and private roles.

Mesrop Manukyan, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly, told ICIJ that Sokolov’s position “create[s] legitimate questions about…the separation between private commercial interest and decisions involving public or government-backed funds.”