Paolo Zampolli's boss told him in writing a year ago that his Balkan business was "possibly unlawful." Then nobody looked.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote the email Nov. 15, 2025, and copied 15 colleagues. Zampolli, he wrote, meant to carry on "undertaking unauthorized and possibly unlawful ventures in commercial and economic matters." Landau also warned the work could bring "disciplinary action, dismissal, and legal liability."
Zampolli kept going. In February he sat in Banja Luka with the prime minister of Republika Srpska, the Serb half of Bosnia that sides with Moscow, and took "a very important document with numerous projects," hydroelectric plants among them.
The department's whole response was emails. There is no public record of any probe of his ventures. The only inspector-general request on file is Zampolli's own, filed in June against Landau over a leak.
Politico printed the emails Thursday morning. By the afternoon a U.S. official said Zampolli's status "as an envoy has been terminated." Zampolli denied any illegality. That evening he put the deals in Trump's mouth. "Why do you want to work in government when you can close all these deals?" he quoted Trump asking. "The President is always right," he added, and said he was going "back to business."
So the department knew for eleven months, and the one thing it did was wait for the public to find out.
