Trump envoy kept financial ties to firm behind $15 billion Hormuz-bypass

DUBAI Thomas Barrack, a top US diplomat in the Middle East, advocated for a firm run by his business partner to take part in the development of an oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria, three people said, activities which appear to violate federal ethics rules. In July, Iraq and Syria signed memorandums of understanding with a consortium made up of the company, Californian investment group TI Capital, along with Chevron and Qatar’s UCC Holding, to carry out technical and financial studies in preparation for rehabilitating the pipeline, which would skirt the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. Barrack, US ‌presidential special envoy to both Iraq and Syria as well as Ambassador to Turkey, has a longstanding business relationship with TI Capital and its founder Ziad Ghandour. At the time of his confirmation hearings in 2025 he had a financial interest entitling him to as much as a fifth of the profits from a real-estate venture near San Francisco, California and managed by TI Capital - with Ghandour as chief executive - that he said he intended to retain, public records show. During engagements with Syrian and Iraqi officials after the start of the war in Iran, Barrack pressed for Ghandour's firm to be included in the project, according to two of the people, who have direct knowledge of the discussions. On June 16, a month before the consortium agreement was signed, Barrack and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi issued a joint statement that commended Iraq's decision "to advance a memorandum of understanding with TI Capital to rehabilitate the Kirkuk-Baniyas Pipeline." The statement made no mention of Chevron or UCC in connection with the pipeline. Barrack's relationship with Ghandour makes ⁠such advocacy "a serious problem" under the regulation that prohibits officials from participating in matters that call into question their impartiality because of a personal or business relationship, said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer and a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.