An oil trading company has filed a lawsuit against its former U.S. law firm, BakerHostetler, alleging that it was victim to a conspiracy involving the firm and a fraudulent U.S. intelligence agent. The company, led by Dutch oil trader Niels Troost, accuses Jeffrey Berg, a partner at BakerHostetler, of professional misconduct for endorsing Gaurav Srivastava, who had convinced Troost—and possibly Berg—that he was a CIA agent. In reality, according to the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles County Court, Srivastava was a swindler looking to acquire Troost’s Swiss company, Paramount Energy and Commodities SA (PECSA), an oil trading business.
BakerHostetler: Accomplice or Victim of a Fake CIA Agent?
According to the charges, Srivastava convinced Troost that he was part of a “CIA operation requiring the use, exploitation, and expansion of PECSA’s commercial activities,” leading Troost to agree to transfer a 50% stake in the company to Srivastava for this purpose. Srivastava allegedly introduced Berg and BakerHostetler to Troost, who engaged them believing they could obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for Paramount to become an American company and join the purported “CIA-FBI program.”
The lawsuit accuses Berg of “regurgitating Mr. Srivastava’s fraudulent story” and endorsing his fake credentials. For example, Berg, based in Los Angeles, allegedly told Troost in 2023 that Srivastava had “high-placed friends” and had stopped an FBI investigation into Troost. The complaint notes that the FBI investigation was a fabrication. “Mr. Berg was either a participant in Mr. Srivastava’s schemes or, like Mr. Troost and others, an additional victim duped by Mr. Srivastava.”
Paramount eventually fired BakerHostetler in May 2023, after Troost hired other lawyers and investigators who discovered that Srivastava was not who he claimed to be, according to the complaint. The lawsuit further claims that BakerHostetler committed professional malpractice by refusing to return confidential client records to Paramount, along with a claim for damages.
