(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A newly filed lawsuit in California federal court accuses a Democrat mega donor and Biden family associate of posing as a CIA agent in a scheme to defraud a Dutch oil trader out of “tens of millions of dollars.”
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Dutch oil trader Niels Troost against Indian national Gaurav Srivastava, who donated $1.3 million to Democrats, including former President Joe Biden, before more recently becoming close with Republicans—as evidenced by a recent photo of Srivastava with Vice President JD Vance.
According to the lawsuit, Troost’s company, Paramount Energy, dealt with crude oil from Russia. After Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, Troost was worried about backlash from the U.S. government due to his dealings with Russia. Troost said in his lawsuit that he expressed those concerns to an African business associate, who put him in touch with the phony CIA agent, Srivastava.
This man pictured with Vance is being sued for posing as a CIA agent in a scheme to defraud a Dutch oil trader out of millions of dollars.
Here he is with ex-CIA officer John Maguire, who's also being sued for vouching for his credentials.
This is a wild one.
🧵 https://t.co/QPmmm30Olb pic.twitter.com/VwWbvOTWrV— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) January 24, 2026
According to the lawsuit, Srivastava convinced Troost that the FBI had compiled a “lengthy report” about him. But Srivastava said he could leverage his CIA connections to allow Troost to continue doing business with Russia without any restrictions.
“[Srivastava] said he ran a CIA ‘Program’ involving monitoring Russian oil flows for U.S. national security and promised Troost that OFAC (and its European counterparts, including Switzerland’s Secrétariat d’État à l’économie (“SECO”)) would allow his businesses to continue trading Russian-origin oil even if Western sanctions were imposed restricting the oil trade,” Troost’s lawsuit says.
“He also claimed that without Srivastava’s help, Troost and his companies ran the risk of being sanctioned by OFAC.”
Srivastava was apparently convincing. Having donated $1.3 million to various Democratic political groups, he had connections to the Atlantic Council, the Biden family, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former CIA officer John Maguire, and a slew of other powerful figures. Maguire allegedly vouched for Srivastava’s CIA credentials, and is a defendant in the lawsuit.
Believing that he would benefit from having an American connection to this business, Troost said he was deceived into transferring 50% of a Paramount Energy holding company’s shares to Srivastava in July 2022 for a “nominal payment” of 50,000 Swiss francs.
According to the lawsuit, Srivastava proceeded to siphon tens of millions of dollars into accounts and companies he and his cronies controlled under the phony guise of CIA operations.
In 2023, Troost said he started to realize he’d been conned. Not only was Srivastava not a CIA agent; he wasn’t even an American, according to the lawsuit. Troost rescinded the shareholder agreement, and a vicious public relations battle between the two men ensued.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal and other major outlets began covering Troost’s accusations against Srivastava in 2024. The Atlantic Council severed all ties with Srivastava, while Democratic politicians froze or returned all the donations he made, according to the lawsuit, which represents the latest development in the nasty dispute between the two men.
More recently, Srivastava has ingratiated himself with Republicans now that they’re in power.
In June 2025, Srivastava posted a photograph with Vice President Vance. Two months later in August 2025, he spoke at the America First-Ground Zero conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, introduced by conservative podcaster Laura Logan.
Still, he has kept close contact with the Bidens. He was spotted last March dining with Hunter Biden, and the Daily Beast reported that he was a “landlord” to Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi, 31, and her husband, Peter Neal.
Srivastava did not respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
