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.

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.”

Update from Sept. 22, 2026, at 8 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. Djibouti: ICIJ reporter Micah Reddy has been released from custody in Djibouti. He is safe and will soon reunite with his family in South Africa.

Update, 4:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 p.m. Djibouti: ICIJ has been informed that Reddy is believed to be in custody for failing to obtain media accreditation. It is understood Ismael is also being held in custody by Djiboutian authorities.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is gravely concerned for the safety of our colleague Micah Reddy, ICIJ’s Africa coordinator, and local journalist Mohamed Willo Ismael (“Kooki Mahmoud”).

Contact with the pair was lost in Djibouti City on Saturday, September 19, at approximately 1 p.m. local time, and neither has been in contact or reachable since.

Reddy was not reporting on Djiboutian affairs when he went missing. He was staying at the Escale International Hotel in Djibouti City.

ICIJ does not yet know the circumstances behind Reddy’s sudden loss of contact.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Sunday it is “deeply concerned” by reports that the pair can no longer be reached, and has called on Djiboutian authorities to urgently establish their whereabouts and confirm their safety.

ICIJ echoes that statement without reservation.

We are calling on the government of Djibouti to:

Immediately clarify Reddy and Ismael’s whereabouts and confirm their well-being; Launch a prompt, transparent investigation into their disappearance; Keep their families, colleagues and employers fully and promptly informed.

Reddy is both a citizen of the U.K. and South Africa. ICIJ alerted both London and Pretoria shortly after the pair went missing.

Authorities in Djibouti have not responded so far to ICIJ requests for information.

Before joining ICIJ, Reddy was an investigative reporter at South Africa’s amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, known for his reporting on governance, corruption and regional affairs across the continent.

Journalists must be able to travel without fear of disappearance or obstruction.

The dating industry’s lead trade group is urging Apple and Google to block a new dating app that the convicted fraudster known as the Tinder Swindler says he plans to launch to safeguard women from similar criminals.

Simon Leviev, soon to turn 36, who inspired a 2022 Netflix documentary by that alias after achieving notoriety for conning at least six women out of an estimated 7 million pounds, wants to name his app Safe Love.

Leviev’s criminality first became widely known after reports by Natalie Hansen and Kristoffer Kumar and others from the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, assisted by ICIJ’s Israeli member Uri Blau.

The son of a rabbi, Simon Leviev wooed several Scandinavian women with glamorous trips, gifts and expensive meals, then shook them down by claiming to be in danger and needing cash to flee danger.

Each victim was used to fund the seduction of the next.

In 2019, Leviev was sentenced to jail in Israel for 15 months after being extradited from Greece and convicted of theft, fraud and forgery of documents. He served only five months.

Unconvinced by Leviev’s self-professed rehabilitation, The Online Dating and Discovery Association has written to Apple and Google calling on them to cancel the convicted fraudster’s planned app.

“In our view, a convicted fraudster having any involvement in our industry seriously undermines the work our sector is doing to tackle fraud,” ODDA chief Simon Newman told ICIJ in a statement.

“It can only have negative repercussions for platforms and users alike,” he said. “We believe it should not be allowed to happen, and that action is needed to prevent it.”

Newman called on Apple and Google to seriously consider the harmful impact that could occur if they were to host any dating app founded, operated or fronted by Leviev.