A lawsuit filed in California this week has claimed that the US President Donald Trump-run Kennedy Center accepted a donation of $2 million from an alleged “fake CIA operative”, Financial Times reported. Trump is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Washington-based institution.
The operative reportedly made the donation to gain favour with the White House during a dispute with an ex-business partner, the lawsuit stated.
The case comes days after a federal judge ordered that the current US president’s name must be removed from the building after the administration attempted to rename it the “Trump Kennedy” Center.
The lawsuit alleging cronyism at the White House was filed in January and amended this week by sanctioned Dutch oil trader Niels Troost against Gaurav Srivastava.
A 35-year-old Indian college dropout, Srivastava, has been accused of pretending to work for the CIA. He calls himself a “strategic investor” based in California.
In the lawsuit, Troost, Srivastava’s former business partner, accuses the 35-year-old of defrauding him of over $43 million with false claims of being a covert operative.
Srivastava agreed to pay $10 million to sponsor an area in the Kennedy Center earlier named Africa Lounge, of which he has paid $2 million so far, the filing claims.
The Kennedy Center confirmed that a private donation had been made to the Africa Lounge, but did not provide more details.
Srivastava is also accused of benefiting from the support of Richard Grenell, a Trump special envoy who served as the centre’s interim president, on projects relating to Venezuelan oil.
Srivastava has told FT that Troost’s legal filing was “complete fiction”. He did not comment on claims about his donation.
The 35-year-old had proposed using his Kennedy Center lounge for a permanent exhibition in honour of US intelligence agencies, the report added. His deal was expected to last five years.
Last year, Srivastava attended a performance of the musical Les Misérables at the centre and posted a picture on X of himself with Vice President JD Vance. Attendees were given the chance to pay as much as $2 million for box seats, attend a reception with Donald Trump and click a photo with him.
Pleasure seeing Vice President @JDVance during last week’s event in #WashingtonDC as we work towards strengthening America’s future! ???????? pic.twitter.com/3ObHUepFfW
— Official Gaurav Srivastava (@OffclGauravSriv) June 19, 2025
In December, Trump added his name before Kennedy’s on the facade of the building, prompting a lawsuit.
On May 29, a federal judge in Washington ruled the building cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. The court ordered the removal of all physical signage with Trump’s name. The building’s staff must take down any references to a “Trump Kennedy Center” in official materials within 14 days.
