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Kimberly Guilfoyle has refused to cut loose an energy lobbyist who sits in on her meetings as US ambassador to Greece, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
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Mail → sign → Greece
The 57-year-old former Fox News host, once engaged to Donald Trump Jr, has brushed off concerns over conflicts of interest.
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host → engage → interest
'I need him,' she has said, half a dozen insiders told the Daily Mail.
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insiders → need → Mail
But sources in Athens say the ethical concerns do not stop at Christos Marafatsos, 39, whose presence at Guilfoyle's official meetings was first revealed by the Wall Street Journal last week.
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presence → say → Journal
Her team has pressed a Greek hospitality fixer for freebies including two cases of Champagne and a nearly €1,600 ($1,800) dinner, three insiders told the Daily Mail.
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insiders → press → Mail
An embassy official said Guilfoyle paid for the meal.
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Guilfoyle → say → meal
At least two Greek outlets published, then quickly pulled, stories picking up the Journal's report as it made waves in Washington.
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it → publish → Washington
'Her team has forged excellent relationships with all the Greek media.
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team → forge → media
They will call them up, and poof, there goes the bad press.
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press → call → them
Many people are afraid of getting on their bad side,' a Greek media insider said.
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insider → get → side
The storm has irritated Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who flies into Athens within days for talks with the Greek government, sources said.
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sources → irritate → government
'Rubio is annoyed but quite frankly has too much on his plate to worry about the side quests of Kimberly Guilfoyle,' a State Department source said.
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source → annoy → Guilfoyle
'Rubio is annoyed but quite frankly has too much on his plate to worry about the side quests of Kimberly Guilfoyle,' a State Department source said
Christos Marafatsos and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
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source → annoy → Marafatsos
President Donald Trump picked Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece in December 2024, days after Don Jr was pictured out with Palm Beach socialite, and his now wife, Bettina Anderson.
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Jr → pick → socialite
The Senate confirmed Guilfoyle last September.
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Senate → confirm → Guilfoyle
At the time, sources warned the 'Margarita Girl' to be on her best behavior, cautioning that a posting in the land of Aegean islands and endless summers was not a license to party.
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posting → warn → islands
Guilfoyle was pictured in July sipping fizz and picking at grapes at Nammos, the jet-set hangout on Mykonos's Psarou Beach, alongside Bill White, Trump's openly gay ambassador to Belgium.
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Guilfoyle → picture → Belgium
She flew to Paris for Fashion Week the next day.
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She → fly → Week
That month, Trump flew straight home from the NATO summit in Turkey without stopping in Greece, despite Guilfoyle promising locals a presidential visit.
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Guilfoyle → fly → visit
The Guilfoyle scandal deepened on Thursday as top Democrats on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged Rubio to investigate her conduct, citing the Journal's report.
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Democrats → deepen → report
'If these reports are accurate, Ambassador Guilfoyle is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed from her position,' Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top House Foreign Affairs Democrat, wrote to Rubio.
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Meeks → represent → Rubio
An embassy official said Guilfoyle 'continues to follow all State Department ethical guidelines.'
Marafatsos is a registered lobbyist for Aktor Group, a major Greek infrastructure and construction conglomerate that has expanded into natural gas distribution and renewable energy.
Guilfoyle has 'worked with companies across the energy sector' and has not focused on just one, her lawyer Jesse Binnall told the Journal.
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lawyer → say → Journal
Aktor paid Marafatsos $160,000 through June to build ties with the White House and the State and Energy departments, and Guilfoyle urged Balkan officials to do business with the company, the Journal reported.
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Journal → pay → company
Lawyers for Aktor told the Journal that the company's involvement began before it had any contact with the ambassador.
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it → tell → ambassador
Marafatsos has worked closely with Guilfoyle in a non-governmental capacity, bridging the gap between Athens and the Greek-American diaspora, a source familiar with their working arrangement said.
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source → work → arrangement
He also chairs Greeks for Trump, founded in 2016.
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He → chair → 2016
Guilfoyle and the White House have contested the Journal's reporting and deny any impropriety.
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Guilfoyle → contest → impropriety
Guilfoyle parties in Mykonos
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greek shipping mogul Nikolas Tsakos and model Carla Bruni at Paris Fashion Week in January
Guilfoyle, her neck adorned with a cross, poses with a Greek Orthodox archbishop
Keeping Marafatsos in the room has left her embassy firefighting on two continents.
Staff are racing to set up urgent meetings with senior Greek officials in Athens and Washington to limit the fallout, some of them face-to-face with Guilfoyle herself, multiple sources said.
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sources → party → Guilfoyle
Guilfoyle insists her tight-knit inner circle, which includes her omnipresent personal stylist, Fancy James, remains vital to her ambassadorial mission, insiders said.
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insiders → insist → mission
'She has a close team of people that are basically running the show, smoothing the way for her, and making sure she has everything she needs,' the same State Department source added.
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source → have → everything
Giannis Chorozoglou, a Greek 'hospitality guru,' has acted as the team's personal guide, three insiders close to Guilfoyle told the Daily Mail.
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insiders → act → Mail
Guilfoyle's team asked him this spring to order two cases of Champagne for the ambassador.
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team → ask → ambassador
Are we paying for it?
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we → pay → it
It was supposed to be free for the ambassador,' a member of her team fired back when Chorozoglou secured only a discount.
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Chorozoglou → suppose → discount
'Whenever she is invited somewhere she asks for a specific Champagne that is insanely expensive because it's the only alcohol she drinks,' a Greek source familiar with her outings said.
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source → invite → outings
Guilfoyle insists her tight-knit inner circle, which includes her omnipresent personal stylist, Fancy James (pictured together in London last year), remains vital to her ambassadorial mission, insiders said
Giannis Chorozoglou, a Greek 'hospitality guru' (pictured with former Vice President Mike Pence), has acted as the team's personal guide, three insiders close to Guilfoyle told the Daily Mail
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insiders → insist → Mail
Kimberly Guilfoyle hits the town in Athens shortly after being named ambassador to Greece in November last year
Guilfoyle dined at Matsuhisa at the Four Seasons Astir Palace in Vouliagmeni, a wealthy seaside enclave south of Athens, on May 31.
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Guilfoyle → hit → May
She was joined by her son Ronan and his father, businessman and furniture designer Eric Villency.
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She → join → son
One of her aides called Chorozoglou to complain when the bill came to €1,586, insisting the meal was supposed to be complimentary and the ambassador would not be paying.
The bill was eventually sent straight to the embassy, sources familiar with the exchange said.
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sources → call → exchange
Soliciting gifts of that kind goes well beyond a question of taste and would breach federal law and rules designed to shield serving ambassadors from accusations of corruption, three current and former diplomats told the Daily Mail.
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diplomats → solicit → Mail
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
