A Guardian investigation has revealed that an obscure company with connections to Donald Trump is on the verge of securing energy contracts worth over $1bn in the Balkans. AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to winning a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the region, enabling fossil gas shipped from the US to replace Russian supplies. The company has no record of handling projects of this scale, but its representatives include a lawyer who has acted for the Trumps and the brother of Trump's former national security adviser.
The company's registered office in Sarajevo is a modest building on a backstreet, but its American partners have brought it to prominence. One representative is Jesse Binnall, a lawyer who fought to overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat and defended Trump and his son against lawsuits related to the Capitol riot. The other is Joe Flynn, brother of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser. Both were involved in efforts to discredit Joe Biden's victory.
US officials have made clear to Bosnian leaders that the Trump administration wants the pipeline project to proceed. The intervention could undermine the 1995 Dayton peace deal that ended a war in which 100,000 people died. Ethnic leaders in Bosnia are still manoeuvring for advantage, and the project has become entangled in global energy politics.
AAFS's local representative, Amer Bekan, a former mayoral candidate who received only 116 votes, registered the Bosnian company in 2021. It was only after partnering with Binnall and Flynn last year that the company gained traction. Neither Bekan nor his American partners will disclose how they were introduced.
The case highlights how the Trump presidency blurs the line between government policy and personal enrichment. A former senior US official noted that having administration-connected people involved in big projects is 'unsavoury but so much of my country's politics is unsavoury these days.' The pipeline project could reshape energy supplies in the Balkans, but it also raises concerns about corruption and political influence.
