Irish billionaire and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison paid for US official's $11,900 trip

Irish billionaire Patrick Collison, the chief executive officer of payments company Stripe Inc., paid for a Mediterranean vacation taken by a senior U.S. State Department official, a gift she valued at $11,900 in a financial disclosure.

Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, traveled to Egypt, Georgia and Greece in November 2025, a month after the Senate confirmed her to the post. She listed Collison as the source of the gift in a preliminary financial disclosure, describing him as a "pre-existing friend predating my government service" and saying the trip was "for purposes of tourism." The Washington Post reported the disclosure on Nov. 11.

A State Department attorney has reviewed the filing, but the U.S. Office of Government Ethics has not yet certified it.

Friends of several years

The State Department said Rogers had known Collison for years before she joined the agency and that the trip was planned before her confirmation in October 2025. It said the $11,900 figure was a high-end estimate of commercial airfare and other costs, and that Rogers has never worked on any government matter connected to Stripe.

A spokesperson for Collison said he has been friends with Rogers for "several years" and has organized a group trip every year for the past eight years. The group visited museums and historical sites, and "no business meetings" took place, the spokesperson said. Stripe has no dealings with the State Department, according to the spokesperson.

Federal ethics rules allow officials to accept gifts "motivated by a family relationship or personal friendship rather than the position of the employee." Ethics specialists have said the trip sits in a gray area and that officials should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The disclosure comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio presses staff on ethics. In a recent message to employees, Rubio wrote that "I expect employees to avoid conflicts of interest in our work" and that "we each have a personal obligation to comply with our government ethics rules."

Rogers, a lawyer, oversees the department's public diplomacy work, which shapes how the U.S. presents its policies to audiences abroad.

Stripe's $159 billion valuation

Collison, 38, grew up in County Tipperary, Ireland, and founded Stripe with his younger brother John in 2010 after the two left MIT and Harvard University. The company processes online payments for millions of businesses, from startups to large retailers, and has stayed private despite years of speculation about a stock market listing.

Stripe was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer for employee shares in February, up from $91.5 billion a year earlier. The brothers are both billionaires on the Forbes list and rank among Ireland's richest people.