Scandal: A series examining corruption in leadership and its downstream consequences.
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle has promoted American natural gas projects across southeastern Europe while a paid lobbyist for one of the companies involved repeatedly appeared at her side, The Wall Street Journal reports.
A paid lobbyist for a Greek energy company repeatedly accompanied U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle to meetings with foreign officials while she promoted American LNG projects in the same regional market, according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
The lobbyist, Christos Marafatsos, represented Aktor Group, a Greek construction and energy company expanding into the liquefied-natural-gas business. At the same time, the Journal reported, he was advising Ms. Guilfoyle and frequently joining her at meetings and official events.
The Journal reported that some foreign officials initially believed Mr. Marafatsos worked for the ambassador. Several people who met with Ms. Guilfoyle and Mr. Marafatsos also told the newspaper that he did not disclose his relationship with Aktor.
According to the Journal, Mr. Marafatsos formally began lobbying for Aktor in the United States shortly after Ms. Guilfoyle arrived in Athens. Federal lobbying records reviewed by the newspaper showed that Aktor had paid him $160,000 through June to establish connections with the Executive Office of the President and the Departments of State and Energy.
The Journal also reported that Ms. Guilfoyle encouraged Bulgarian officials to work with Aktor.
“Laws are like spiders’ webs; the big flies get through, while the little ones are caught.”
— Honoré de Balzac, The Firm of Nucingen (1838)
Scandal examines political misconduct, institutional failure, elite impunity and the systems that allow powerful people to escape accountability.
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