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The founder of Swiss oil trader Paramount Energy & Commodities SA has hired a former aide to Joe Biden to help prevent potential US sanctions after being targeted by the UK government over his involvement in trading Russian oil.
Dutch veteran trader Niels Troost has enlisted Ankit Desai to advise on whether the US government plans to take punitive measures against him or his companies, according to a copy of a lobbying contract filed with the US Department of Justice. Desai worked for then Senator Biden in 2005.
Troost is the most prominent non-Russian trader to have been targeted by western sanctions since Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian army to march on Kyiv two years ago. The UK in November 2023 sanctioned a Dubai-based subsidiary of Paramount and then Troost himself and his Geneva-based company two months later.
The US government has imposed sanctions on companies accused of shipping or trading Russian oil in violation of western rules but is yet to target an individual for involvement.
Desai’s AND Partners LLC will provide services including “research on considerations around potential imposition of sanctions administered by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control upon [Troost], and/or businesses entities with which [Troost] is associated”, states the contract, dated February 26. Fees amount to $100,000 a month.
AND Partners will also assist in identifying, and advocate and communicate with, “key US civilian and government personnel to advance [Troost’s] personal and commercial interests”.
The US Foreign Agents Registration Act requires lobbyists such as Desai to register and disclose their contracts with foreign nationals such as Troost.
The UK sanctions against Troost followed reporting by the Financial Times that Dubai-based Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC had traded a type of Russian oil last year that routinely priced above the G7 cap, while using western-based insurance services — a potential breach of restrictions imposed by western powers to try to crimp Moscow’s oil revenues.
Paramount SA is one of several Geneva-based commodity traders that switched its Russia-related business to entities in the United Arab Emirates, which has not imposed restrictions on trade with Moscow.
Troost had long claimed he had no management role in Paramount DMCC and that, as a separate legal entity incorporated in the UAE, its activities were not subject to western restrictions.
The UK Treasury alleged that Troost had owned or controlled Paramount DMCC “directly or indirectly” and accused him of facilitating “the unfettered trade of Russian oil outside the reach of UK and G7 sanctions”.
A spokesperson for Troost declined to comment on the contract with Desai and said that Troost no longer traded Russian oil.
“After Paramount DMCC ceased marketing Russian oil in August 2023, Niels Troost has had no involvement in the Russian oil market whatsoever, directly, indirectly or through business interests.”
Corporate records show that Swiss-registered Paramount SA entered voluntary liquidation earlier this month.
Troost founded Paramount SA in 2017. It was previously a regular supplier of a crude oil known as ESPO-blend, which it acquired from privately owned Russian producers and packaged into single shipments from the port of Kozmino, on Russia’s eastern edge. Mainly sold to refineries in China, ESPO has consistently traded well above the $60-a-barrel price cap imposed by the G7 in December 2022.
Desai, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, is known as a Washington lobbyist with relationships in both the Democratic party and the energy industry.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked in government affairs for Cheniere Energy and as a senior adviser to the chief of executive of Tellurian Inc, two companies which pioneered the development of the US gas export industry. He has also worked for Mark Warner, the current chair of the Senate intelligence committee, and for Biden’s current climate envoy and former US secretary of state John Kerry.
