Venezuela’s Opposition on What U.S. Military Moves Mean for Maduro
by Clara Preve
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A Greek shipping network that spent years evading U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil is now lobbying the Trump administration for permission to keep doing business — while its CEO dines at the Kennedy Center.
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Editor's note (updated 1 June 2026): This article has been updated following correspondence from Aktor Group's investor relations department (26 May 2026) and a legal letter from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP on behalf of Aktor and Mr. Exarchou (1 June 2026). Corrections have been made to market capitalisation figures and corporate structure descriptions. Aktor Group and Mr. Exarchou categorically deny any involvement in or connection to the shipping activities described in this article. They state that Akron Trade and Transport and Vale Marítimo are "wholly unrelated" to Aktor. The reporting below is based on corporate filings, shipping records, lobbying disclosures, and regulatory documents that show shared ownership structures. Project Brazen stands by its reporting while acknowledging the parties' denials in full.
In December 2025, Alexandros Exarchou attended a high-profile event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., hosted by President Donald Trump.
Exarchou, the CEO of the Athens-listed Aktor Group, was there to celebrate a massive 20-year deal to buy liquefied natural gas from the United States. His company, through a joint venture with DEPA, the Greek state natural gas company, was positioning itself as a key partner in U.S. and European energy security, helping to replace Russian gas with American LNG.
It was a moment of triumph for a Greek executive. In the months that followed, Aktor Group would sign a $6 billion LNG deal with Albania and deliver its first cargo to Ukraine. Exarchou was the legitimate face of a booming Western energy enterprise.
But while Exarchou was dining with the American political elite, a very different operation connected to his business partners was playing out in the Caribbean Sea.
The Trump administration's retreat from sanctions enforcement has cracked open the Venezuelan oil sector. Front of the line are characters like this network—already positioned, moving oil, and lobbying to have their operations blessed as legitimate.
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Following publication, we received a response from Aktor Group's investor relations department (26 May 2026) and a legal letter from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP on behalf of Aktor and Mr. Exarchou (1 June 2026). We have made the following corrections and clarifications:
— Aktor Group's market capitalisation has been corrected to approximately EUR 2.1 billion, per Euronext Athens data. An earlier version of this article stated €1.3 billion.
— The article now notes that Atlantic-See LNG Trade S.A. is a joint venture between Aktor and DEPA, the Greek state-owned natural gas company. An earlier version did not specify the JV structure.
— The article now reflects that Mr. Exarchou's effective shareholding in Aktor is indirect (approximately 8%, held via a 20% stake in Winex Investments Limited, which owns 40.59% of Aktor). An earlier version implied direct control.
— Aktor Group and Mr. Exarchou, through their lawyers, deny any connection to Akron Trade and Transport, Vale Marítimo, or any shipping activities. They state that these companies are "wholly unrelated" to Aktor. They state that Mr. Exarchou had no business dealings with Mr. Bakos or Mr. Kaimenakis prior to 2021.
— Regarding the EPPO investigation into Contract 717, Aktor states that the case remains at the pre-trial stage, that Mr. Exarchou served in the relevant role for only 1.5 years of a nine-year contract, and that the allegations are "entirely unfounded" with respect to his conduct.
— Cleary Gottlieb states that Aktor's role in the UAE oil storage terminal referenced in the article is a project management contracting role, not an ownership stake, and that it is "unconnected to any of the entities referred to."
— A previous version of the ownership diagram incorrectly showed Thrivest Holding Ltd as the vehicle through which the three shareholders hold their stake in Aktor Group. The graphic has been corrected to reflect the actual structure: Winex Investments Limited (Cyprus) holds 40.59% of Aktor, with Mr. Exarchou holding a 20% stake in Winex (an indirect effective stake of less than 8% in Aktor). Thrivest Holding Ltd is a separate vehicle through which the same shareholders hold their stake in CrediaBank. It does not own or control Aktor.
Aktor Group provided the following response to our questions. Their email arrived before our deadline but was filtered as spam. We are publishing their response below, with minor formatting edits for clarity.
Aktor states that it is "a publicly traded company with a transparent shareholder structure" and that "Thrivest Holding Ltd is not a shareholder of Aktor and exercises no control over it in any form." They state that Akron Trade and Transport and Vale Marítimo "are wholly unrelated to Aktor" and that "Mr. Alexandros Exarchou has absolutely no relation to the companies mentioned."
Regarding the EPPO investigation, Aktor states that Mr. Exarchou served as a manager of the joint venture company TOMI AVETE for approximately 1.5 years (July 2019 to January 2021) within a contract that ran for nearly nine years. They state that "during the period in which Mr. Exarchou served as one of the managers of the J/V, TOMI, in its capacity as a member of the J/V, did not receive any funds under the contract." The case remains at the pre-trial stage and Mr. Exarchou has not been convicted of any offence.
Aktor states that "the allegations are entirely unfounded with respect to his own conduct" and that they "remain confident that he will be fully acquitted should the case ultimately be referred to trial."
Aktor's response did not address our questions regarding the 2020 transfer of vessels from Altomare SA to Issa Shipping FZE, the Kelly's encounter with the U.S. Coast Guard in December 2025, the Ballard Partners lobbying engagement, or the 71-page compliance memo.
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