Joel Riddle, who led the US company Polar Train LNG, said he initially believed the investors were Gentry Beach, a businessman with ties to Donald Trump's family, and Abu Dhabi-based Tech Wave Industrial Projects Management. He later concluded that Beach had put no money into the project and that the funds were coming from Novatek through a parent company in the UAE.

The FT reviewed WhatsApp correspondence in which Novatek board member Denis Solovyov discusses speeding up transfers of funds to Polar Train LNG. According to the NYT, Riddle took part in an August meeting with Tech Wave representatives in Abu Dhabi at which Novatek executives discussed financing.

Riddle then asked a law firm to assess the sanctions risks and in September submitted a letter of resignation, attaching the lawyers' opinion. Almost the entire senior management left the company after him.

Polar LNG described Riddle as a disgruntled employee dismissed for violations and said the company complies with US law. According to the NYT, his contract was terminated six days after he submitted his resignation.

Novatek confirmed it had given Tech Wave the right to use its technology in Alaska and told the NYT it sought to become a minority shareholder in the project. The company rejected claims that access to the technology depends on sanctions being lifted from Arctic LNG 2, and denied Beach's involvement in the project.

Polar LNG launched in March. The company proposes building an LNG plant at Milne Point on Alaska's Arctic coast, for which it plans to use a partially built platform. Participation by the Russian company in the project would require US sanctions on it to be lifted.

Citing FT sources, the project came up in Washington-Moscow talks on ending the war in Ukraine, and in exchange for Novatek's help the US could lift sanctions from Arctic LNG 2. A US administration representative told the newspapers that the discussions concerned only a general idea, without details.

The US Treasury Department declined to comment on the allegations, saying it takes possible sanctions violations "extremely seriously."