Republican donor continues lobbying against MEGOBARI, cites planned $100 million Georgia investment
Republican donor Steve Nicandros, the CEO of the Frontera Industries oil firm, has continued to lobby against the passage of the MEGOBARI Act, arguing that it could negatively impact a $100 million investment the company plans to make in Georgia over the next two years.
The US media outlet The Hill reported on the latest lobbying effort from Nicandros on Tuesday, writing that he had sent an unnamed Republican House member a letter earlier in January urging for more opposition to the still-unpassed legislation.
The bill, originally introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, would increase sanctions on Georgia if the country did not reverse its democratic backsliding, but would also provide incentives, including defence aid and possible visa liberalisation, if democratic reforms were undertaken. It was passed by the House of Representatives in May 2025, but has since stalled in the Senate.
In September 2025, unnamed sources told The Hill that the bill was being singlehandedly blocked by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, who expressed a similar sentiment to Nicandros — highlighting concern for the future of American investments in Georgia.
Nicandros, Mullin, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have since repeatedly blocked efforts for the bill to be passed, leading to criticism from Wilson and other proponents of the legislation.
‘For nearly three decades, my company has invested extensively in Georgia’s energy sector’, Nicandros wrote in his most recent letter obtained by The Hill. He added the MEGOBARI Act or other similar legislation would harm such investments, both current and in the future.
Nicandros also singled out Wilson, arguing that his support of the bill is worrying because it is ‘perpetuating [former President Joe] Biden-era policies’. He further cast Biden as being the source of the current poor state of relations between Georgia and the US, a narrative that has become commonplace in rhetoric by the ruling Georgian Dream party.
‘During the final year of the Biden administration, actions taken under its liberal/progressive foreign policy framework — and in response to ideological disagreement with Georgia’s sovereign, conservative government — served to significantly damage close, long-standing US–Georgia relations’, Nicandros wrote.
He also dismissed concerns of Georgia’s democratic backsliding and accusations of electoral fraud, while claiming Georgian Dream is deserving of support from Trump because the party is ideologically aligned with the US Republican Party.
For his part, Wilson told The Hill that he stood by the MEGOBARI Act, saying it would further Trump’s agenda in the South Caucasus, namely plans for the US-managed Trump Route that would connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, through Armenian territory.
‘The historic peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the success of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, and removing China, Iran, and Russia from the Middle Corridor are only possible if the Georgian Dream government changes its anti-American behavior’, Wilson said.
Nana Gongadze
