Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Suriya Cassis Jayanti (born November 25, 1982) is an American diplomat at the U.S. Department of State who served as the Energy Unit Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, during the events that gave rise to the first impeachment of President Donald J. Trump. She was subpoenaed on October 16, 2019 to testify in the impeachment hearings. She was originally scheduled to be deposed on October 25, 2019, but this was postponed due to the death and funeral of Representative Elijah Cummings. She was expected to testify about the involvement of Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and Rudy Guiliani in the Ukrainian energy sector, as well as the actions and statements of Ambassador Gordon Sondland during his July 2019 visit to Ukraine.

Early Life and Education

Jayanti was born in Los Angeles, CA, to Vikram Jayanti, a documentary filmmaker and the son of Dr. Dharma Teja, and Dr. Deirdre Evans-Pritchard, an anthropologist and the daughter of Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard.

Jayanti attended the Thacher School in California before beginning university at L'Universite du Notre Dame du Louaize in Beirut, Lebanon, where she studied diplomacy. She graduated from Claremont McKenna College in California with a B.A. in International Relations and Conflict Management. She received a cum laude J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law, where she was an editor on the Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honors Team. Following her clerkship, she received a magna cum laude LL.M. in energy and environmental law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.

Career

Before joining the Foreign Service, Jayanti worked as a freelance reporter for the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon. She also worked as an organizational evaluator conducting an efficacy study of First 5 LA, a quasi-governmental funding initiative to improve the well being of California children under the age of five.

Following law school, she clerked for Chief Judge Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals. She also worked in the energy and regulatory practice at Hunton & Williams, LLC, in Brussels, Belgium.

Jayanti joined the Foreign Service in 2012. Prior to her tour in Ukraine, she served as a political officer in Kuwait working on Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood, tribal, Gulf Cooperation Council, and domestic Kuwaiti political issues. She also served in Nassau, The Bahamas, Baghdad, Iraq, and in Washington, DC working on 5G, data protection, and Hauwei policy.

Ukraine

Jayanti served as the Energy Unit Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv from 2018-2020. During that time, she led U.S. engagement in the Ukrainian energy sector under the direction of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. This included working to instill and reinforce corporate governance and anti-corruption measures at Ukraine's state-owned natural gas monopoly, Naftogaz. She was responsible for negotiating on behalf of the U.S. on Ukrainian gas sector reforms, particularly the unbundling of Naftogaz, and oversaw for the U.S. issues including gas transit negotiations between Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom.

In 2018, Naftogaz became the target of plans by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who wanted to remove the CEO Andriy Kobolyev so a replacement might support their business ambitions in the Ukrainian gas sector. In this effort, they enlisted the help of Rudy Guiliani. Former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was at the same time also pressuring the Ukrainian government for leadership changes at the top of Naftogaz, as well as seeking business opportunities for U.S. energy companies, including those with which he had associations.

Jayanti was reportedly briefed on Guiliani, Parnas, and Fruman's plans by a U.S. gas trader working in Ukraine. She was also briefed by several Naftogaz officials. In May 2019, Amos Hochstein, then on the the Naftogaz Supervisory Board and formerly Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs and Deputy Assistance Secretary of State for Energy, briefed Jayanti on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's concerns about pressure from Guiliani to investigate the Bidens.

On July 25-26, Jayanti served as the control officer for Ambassador Gordon Sondland during his visit to Ukraine, which David Holmes testified publicly about during the impeachment hearings. During that visit, Sondland met with Andriy Yermak, aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to pressure him to announce an investigation into the Bidens. Sondland also called President Trump at a resutarant in Kyiv during a lunch organized and attended by Jayanti, during which he is reported to have discussed "the investigations."

Jayanti was subpoenaed on October 16, 2019 to appear for the impeachment hearings. She was originally scheduled to be deposed on October 25, 2019, but this was postponed indefinitely due to the death and funeral of U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings.