Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

Source: The Guardian

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

Guardian investigation shows how US presidency blurs line between policy and enrichment of American ruling family and those around it

Tom Burgis in Sarajevo
Sat 30 May 2026 13.00 BST
Last modified on Sat 30 May 2026 15.11 BST

On a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn.

AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most important infrastructure project ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the country’s top officials, who, like others, asks to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive negotiations.

The company has no record of even attempting anything close to this scale. What it does have is personal connections to Donald Trump.

One of AAFS’s representatives is a Washington lawyer who has acted for the Trumps in political cases. The other is the brother of the president’s former national security adviser. Both were part of a campaign that is close to Trump’s heart: the effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/30/why-1bn-in-balkans-energy-contracts-are-going-to-an-obscure-company-connected-to-donald-trump