Consultants who worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns were paid more than $1.6 million to advise a conservative Albanian opposition party on its strategy for parliamentary elections in May, according to a finance report filed on Monday.

In the report, submitted to the Albanian election commission, the Democratic Party of Albania revealed payments totaling the equivalent of more than $1.62 million to the consulting firm of Chris LaCivita, who helped manage Trump’s 2024 campaign, and nearly $65,000 for polling by the firm of Tony Fabrizio, who has advised the Trump political operation.

The Democratic Party of Albania lost badly in the May elections, despite efforts by LaCivita and Paul Manafort, who briefly ran Trump’s 2016 campaign, to position the party’s leader, former President Sali Berisha, as a sort of Trump-like figure.

Payments Within Four Months

The payments, which were listed in Albanian currency, came over the course of less than four months, beginning in mid-February and ending in late May, according to the report.

LaCivita worked as part of a team in Albania with Fabrizio and Manafort. The arrangement raises the prospect that LaCivita’s firm, Advancing Strategies, may have subcontracted with Fabrizio and Manafort, which is a standard structure for campaign consultants. The three men have pitched their services as a team to other overseas campaigns since Trump’s victory last fall.

American political consultants who win U.S. presidential races are often in high demand around the world, and it is not unusual for them to reap lucrative paydays from foreign campaigns.

LaCivita, who traveled to Albania multiple times during the campaign to stump for Berisha, declined to comment. Manafort and Fabrizio did not respond to requests for comment.

LaCivita and Manafort cast Berisha as the victim of a witch hunt engineered by domestic rivals and Democrats, including billionaire megadonor George Soros, and the administration of former President Joe Biden.

Berisha is facing corruption charges in Albania in connection with a property deal, and in 2021 he was sanctioned by the Biden administration for “significant corruption,” according to a statement from former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He accused Berisha of misappropriating public funds and using his power to enrich his allies and family.

After Berisha’s party lost to the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama, LaCivita amplified claims by Berisha that the election was rigged.

A recount requested by Berisha’s party did not support those claims.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Kenneth P. Vogel/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2025 The New York Times Company