A Texas company run by Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born American private equity investor who donated to Trump's White House ballroom, received authorization from the Treasury Department to buy one of Armenia's largest copper mines from a sanctioned Russian state bank, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported on September 21, 2026. Dynamic Frontier Holdings purchased the Teghut mine this summer; Russia's state-owned VTB Bank, sanctioned by the U.S. after the invasion of Ukraine, was Teghut's primary shareholder and creditor before the sale. Dynamic Frontier said on September 3 that it had “received authorization from the U.S. Department of the Treasury” on June 1 to acquire all of Teghut's shares and debt, ICIJ reported. Records from the Texas registry identify Sokolov as the company's “manager,” according to RFE/RL.
Sokolov donated $11 million in 2025 to MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC, and an undisclosed sum toward the ballroom, according to ICIJ; he is on the White House's list of ballroom donors. The State Department appointed him chairman of a new enterprise fund overseeing more than $200 million for a central Asia trade corridor, The Guardian reported in July; he had not held a government job before.
A spokesperson for Sokolov confirmed the license and said there was “no evidential basis” to link his donations to its approval, and that any suggestion otherwise “would be incorrect and wholly misplaced.” The Treasury Department did not answer questions about the license, ICIJ reported. No evidence shows the donations influenced the decision (see White House Ballroom Funded by $400 Million From Corporate Donors; a Judge Orders Construction to Stop, Ruling 'The President Is Not the Owner' and Public Citizen: Trump's Ballroom Donors Won More Than $50 Billion in Federal Contracts in Six Months, With Lockheed Alone Getting $43.8 Billion).