Kimberly Guilfoyle Caught in Fresh Ethics Controversy Over Lobbyist's Role in Foreign Meetings: Report

Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-fiancée-turned U.S. Ambassador to Greece, is embroiled in an ethics scandal with a 39-year-old businessman and paid American lobbyist, according to an explosive Wall Street Journal report.

Christos Marafatsos is a paid American lobbyist representing Aktor Group, a Greek construction firm that has expanded into the natural gas industry.

Investigations show that Aktor paid Marafatsos $160,000 to establish high-level connections with the White House, State Department and Energy Department.

His constant presence “shadowing” Guilfoyle at official diplomatic meetings across Europe has triggered intense scrutiny, as government officials noted he frequently failed to disclose his private corporate ties while foreign governments were being pressured to buy American liquefied natural gas through Aktor.

Guilfoyle has used her diplomatic influence to direct countries like Bulgaria to purchase billions in American LNG, specifically through Aktor, presenting the arrangement as the formal position of the U.S. government.

Marafatsos accompanied Guilfoyle and Aktor’s CEO to Albania, helping secure a massive $6 billion, 20-year gas agreement.

Beyond attending meetings with heads of state, Marafatsos reportedly flew the 57-year-old Ambassador to Bulgaria on a private jet. Ethics experts note that bringing a registered corporate lobbyist into official state meetings blends public American diplomatic strategy with private commercial gains.

Lawyers for Guilfoyle, Marafatsos, and Aktor deny any wrongdoing. They claim that her efforts comply with State Department rules and emphasize expanding U.S. energy sales while helping Europe transition away from Russian gas.

Government officials across Southeastern Europe expressed confusion over Marafatsos' heavy involvement, describing him as a "neophyte in both diplomacy and energy" who seemed out of place at high-level state summits.

Multiple foreign officials revealed they initially assumed Marafatsos was Guilfoyle’s official diplomatic chief of staff or a formal U.S. government employee. They said they were shocked to learn he was actually a private, paid corporate lobbyist who often failed to disclose his commercial ties during state meetings.

European officials were deeply alarmed by Guilfoyle’s aggressive diplomatic style, and during a tense March dinner in Athens, Greece’s Energy Minister, Stavros Papastavrou, fiercely pushed back after Guilfoyle boasted that the U.S. had engineered the collapse of Romania's government.

Guilfoyle reportedly warned, "We can do that to any country we want. We can do that here," prompting Papastavrou to firmly remind her that the U.S. could not simply replace a democratically elected Greek government.

After these disclosures, Greece's political opposition parties formally demanded that the Greek government issue a public statement about the Ambassador's alleged threats to national sovereignty.

Former veteran U.S. Foreign Service officials, such as Robin Brooks, publicly sounded the alarm. Brooks noted that Marafatsos acting as an unofficial "gatekeeper" at an ambassadorial residence severely blurs the boundary between advancing actual American public interests and lining private corporate pockets.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Ambassador, calling Guilfoyle an "effective advocate" for the administration's strategic agenda.