Recently the Guardian reported that George Kollitides, a senior advisor overseeing U.S. defense spending, is also on the board of a small public company, D. Boral Acquisition I Corp., which has several links to the Trump family business and Truth Social.
Following are highlights of excellent reporting by Aram Rostom for the Guardian and I report on additional information that adds more context on D. Boral and their business with companies based in Asia, including a partnership with a financial firm in Shanghai, China.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg has brought in a team from his company Cerberus to help direct Pentagon spending
The recent Guardian story focuses on Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, the reclusive billionaire founder of private equity firm Cerberus, and several former Cerberus executives Feinberg has brought with him to help oversee Pentagon spending.
Feinberg’s Cerberus (named after the many-headed hound that guarded the underworld) previously helped finance Donald Trump in Atlantic City and Trump Tower in Chicago. Cerberus also helped finance Jared Kushner’s 666 Fifth Avenue building. I mentioned Feinberg briefly in this article and noted that after Austria’s BAWAG Bank paid $675 million in an SEC settlement related to aiding in a fraud by Refco Group, Cerberus purchased BAWAG for $3.4 billion in 2007 and later sold its stake in 2019.
Cerberus has invested in diverse sectors from real estate and banking to defense and firearm companies. In 2021 the New York Times reported Cerberus owned Tier 1 Group, which provided military training to operatives who killed Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Guardian reports that per multiple sources, Stephen Feinberg “has far eclipsed (Pete) Hegseth in actual influence and impact.”
As Stephen Feinberg has “quietly amassed extraordinary influence over US military spending” he has also brought in several former Cerberus executives, including senior advisor George Kollitides, who was made the director of the Economic Defense Unit (EDU) overseeing defense investments and vice chairman of the investment committee of the office of strategic capital.
George Kollitides is designated as a “special government employee” which means he can also work in the private sector, where one of his roles is as a board director of D. Boral Acquisition I Corp.
The Chairman and CEO of D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. is David Boral, the founder of D. Boral Capital. Last year I wrote about D. Boral Capital and their involvement in New America Acquisition I Corp. with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Recently I wrote about how the Trump sons are linked to another D. Boral deal with Singapore-based Genius Group Ltd., which planned to invest in Jewel Bancorp, a digital bank in Bermuda.
Following are more details on D. Boral Acquisition I Corp., where George Kollitides is a director, and further information on the D. Boral network.
Note that there is no indication of any wrongdoing or any illegal activity. The information is meant to provide context on George Kollitides, who is an advisor overseeing massive investments at the Pentagon, and at the same time is the director of a public company with links to the Trump family and to deals in Asia.
The Guardian reports that while George Kollitides helps oversee strategic spending at the Pentagon he also serves on the board of D. Boral Acquisition I Corp.
The Guardian described how D. Boral was linked to the Trump family business, Truth Social.
After Feinberg brought his team in, in February this year, a newly formed “blank check” company in the British Virgin Islands launched an effort to raise a quarter of a billion dollars. The company, D Boral Acquisition I, was sponsored by Boral Capital, a boutique firm that has underwritten ventures of the Trump family, including Trump’s media company.
The new BVI firm raising the money listed its directors on 12 February 2026. One was Kevin McGurn, who was an adviser to Trump Media and Technology Group at the time and is now the interim CEO.
Another board member was Kollitides, who was already working for Feinberg at the DOD. In the SEC filing, Boral described former Cerberus partner Kollitides as “Senior Executive Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of War”. Kollitides, the filing says, was also a senior adviser to an investment advisory firm called “Alvarez and Marsal”.
This story highlights “serious conflicts of interest concerns” and the incredible blurring of lines between federal government decision-making and spending and private business interests.
The Guardian also reported how the office of strategic capital, overseen by George Kollitides, approved a $620 million loan to Vulcan Elements, a firm where Donald Trump Jr. is an investor. And another part of the Pentagon awarded $15 million to a company Kopin Corporation, a firm partially financed by Unusual Machines, a drone company, where Don Jr. is an investor (which I have covered in various stories including this one).
Leadership of D. Boral Acquisition I Corp.
The April 2026 Annual Report for D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. provides an overview, which basically explains that the company does not have a current operating business, and was set up to raise money through an initial public offering (IPO) and would use those funds to later identify and merge with an operating business.
D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. is a blank check company incorporated as a BVI business company and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.
In February D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. did an IPO and raised proceeds of $287 million.
The filing lists the management team: David Boral, John Darwin, Gaurav Verma and Benjamin Piggott, and the directors: Luisa Ingargiola, Jeffrey Tullman, George Kollitides and Kevin McGurn.
Kevin McGurn is the interim CEO of Trump Media, and is also CEO of Yorkville Acquisition Corp. where D. Boral was co-manager of the IPO offering. McGurn is also CEO of New America Acquisition I Corp., where D. Boral Capital and Dominari Securities are Co-Book Running Managers (I covered more here and further down in this story).
As a side note, it amazes me how many hats executives of some public companies can wear. While Kevin McGurn is interim CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, which is planning a $6 billion merger with TAE Technologies (covered briefly here), and is CEO of New America Acquisition I Corp., McGurn is also CEO of Yorkville International Capital Corp., Yorkville Acquisition Corp., Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III, and Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp. And if that is not enough, McGurn is also CEO of Sono Group N.V., a former solar company that is now a digital asset treasury company, based in Germany.
D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. director, Luisa Ingargiola, is also a director of New America Acquisition I Corp, where McGurn is CEO.
And Ingargiola is also the director of other companies affiliated with D. Boral, including D. Boral ARC Acquisition I Corp., JAB Acquisition Corp I, and BTECH Corporation. Ingargiola was previously Chief Financial Officer at Magnegas from 2007 to 2016, a firm that was part financed by Alpha Capital Anstalt (which funded companies linked to Eric and Donald Trump Jr., including Dominari Holdings, and which I have covered several times).
D. Boral partnership with ARC Group in Shanghai, China
While the Guardian reported on George Kollitides and his involvement with D. Boral Acquisition I Corp., one area they did not cover is how the firm D. Boral has a focus on doing business with micro cap companies in Asia and has a business partnership in China.
In 2021 I reported on ARC Group, a company based in Shanghai, China, which was an early financial advisor to Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the public company that later merged with Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs Truth Social.
Last year I wrote about D. Boral in a story on how Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. partnered with Dominari exec Kyle Wool and Trump Media advisor Kevin McGurn to launch New America Acquisition I Corp. to raise $300 million.
Kevin McGurn had incorporated a company in Florida in May 2025 called New America Sponsor I LLC along with another officer John Darwin.
The Florida filing for New America Sponsor I LLC showed that Kevin McGurn’s business partner John Darwin was with Shanghai-based ARC Group and, at that time, Darwin was listed as a Managing Director on the ARC Group website. John Darwin is no longer on the ARC Group site, and is now listed as the Chief Investment Officer at D. Boral.
In January 2025 D. Boral announced that it had secured strategic investments from ARC Group and an institutional investor, showing how significant their partnership is with a firm based in China:
The strategic partnership with ARC Group, known for its strong presence in Asia and expertise in cross-border transactions, is particularly noteworthy. It aligns well with D. Boral Capital’s global ambitions and could potentially open up new opportunities in emerging markets.
I also reported that the ARC Group website had a May 2025 post saying that D. Boral Capital had launched a series of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), with ARC Group.
Joining forces with ARC Group on this new series of SPACs is a natural fit, given both companies’ prominence and leadership in the SPAC space,” said David W. Boral, Founder and CEO of D. Boral Capital. “Building on our past successes, this collaboration underscores ARC Group’s confidence in our offerings and the value we bring to our clients in navigating the capital markets.
Bloomberg coverage of D. Boral in a story on companies in Asia subject to potential stock manipulation
In addition to D. Boral’s investment from ARC Group and partnership to launch several SPACs, earlier this year Bloomberg published a story that highlighted D. Boral as a prolific underwriter of microcap stocks based in Asia.
In January Bloomberg published a story on U.S. regulators scrutinizing suspected pump-and-dump schemes involving foreign companies.
A Bloomberg news analysis focused on companies in Asia that were subject to potential stock manipulation and the underwriters involved with the deals (note that none were accused of any wrongdoing).
Among the most prolific microcap underwriters, D. Boral Capital along with its predecessor firm helped list more than 30 firms on Nasdaq Capital Market since 2023. Ten of the IPOs, or about one-third, later became the subject of apparent pump-and-dump campaigns, Bloomberg research shows.
The story noted that, in addition to D. Boral, other prolific underwriters included Dominari and Revere Securities. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. own a combined 12% of Dominari Holdings. The CEO of Dominari Holdings, Kyle Wool, was previously the head of Revere Securities.
Wall Street Journal reporting on D. Boral
D. Boral was previously called EF Hutton and Benchmark Investments. The company rebranded as D. Boral in November 2024, shortly after the Wall Street Journal published a story: ‘Vicious Partner Feud Roils EF Hutton.’
Operating on the fringes of Wall Street, Rallo and Boral specialized in small-company IPOs and SPACs. SPACs are blank-check companies that merge with firms looking to go public. They are essentially backdoor IPOs that have historically enriched insiders at the expense of ordinary investors.
Earlier this year, in April, the firm held a celebration in Palm Beach, Fla., shortly after the Trump Media listing. Following a night of partying, Boral paid a prostitute $500, accidentally taking the money from an EF Hutton account, then tried to cover it up when the payment raised red flags at the firm, Rallo contended in his lawsuit. The claims in the lawsuits “should not be viewed as a reflection on Mr. Rallo or Mr. Boral,” EF Hutton said in its statement Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal story also described that the prior year EF Hutton worked with Sean Dollinger and underwrote the listing of LQR House, an alcoholic-beverages company led by Dollinger. In this story I reported that Sean Dollinger who ran LQR House previously worked with Elon Musk lieutenant Branden Spikes.
Sean Dollinger also founded Veg House, which aims to build vegan food halls and grocery stores. The FINRA filing for David Boral who runs D. Boral shows one complaint in 2024 related to Veg House.
Circling back to the Guardian report on Stephen Feinberg and George Kollitides – it is noteworthy that Kollitides is helping to oversee U.S. defense spending while also serving on the board of D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. Not only does D. Boral Acquisition I Corp. have a network linked to the Trump family and Truth Social, D. Boral has a history of small deals in Asia and investment and partnership with ARC Group in Shanghai. This is one more node in the overlapping Trump administration government / business hub worth keeping an eye on.