1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Demand a full investigation into how Konstantin Sokolov — a donor to Trump's $350 million White House ballroom project — received a Treasury Department license to do business with VTB Bank, a sanctioned Russian state institution that Treasury itself called a "critical artery" of Russia's financial system. The same summer that license was granted, Sokolov was appointed chairman of a new $200 million State Department enterprise fund overseeing investments in the very region where he just acquired a major copper mine. That is not a coincidence. That is corruption. Sokolov's company, Dynamic Frontier Holdings, used the OFAC license to acquire Teghut, one of Armenia's largest copper mines, from VTB Bank for roughly $46.5 million. Treasury has refused to answer any questions about why the license was approved. The law prohibits U.S. persons from transacting with VTB Bank. A member of Armenia's own parliament has raised alarms about Sokolov's overlapping public and private roles. Congress needs to compel Treasury to explain how a major Trump donor got a sanctions carve-out that ordinary Americans would never receive — and hold accountable anyone who traded that waiver for political donations.