How Trump could wrest Citgo from Elliott Management and hand it back to Venezuela

In November 2025, a Delaware federal judge ordered the sale of the company to Elliott Management and its affiliate startup, Amber Energy. The court ruled that Citgo could be held liable for the Venezuelan government’s debts, and approved a sale that would send $9 billion to pay off a small number of Venezuela’s numerous creditors. All that was needed to close the sale was a green light from the Trump administration, at which point Citgo and its U.S. refineries would come under American ownership for the first time in nearly 40 years. In the weeks after the dramatic ouster of…