Toretti handed over her letter of credence to King Carl XVI Gustaf in a formal ceremony alongside new ambassadors for Uruguay, Norway, Germany, and Canada, meaning she is now formally entitled to represent the US in Sweden.
She has a background as one of the few female CEOs in the US oil and gas business, serving for 20 years as the CEO of S.W. Jack Drilling, a family shale gas drilling business which had revenues of as high as $50 million a year by the time it was dissolved in 2010.
She also served as the Chair of S&T Bank, a publicly traded community bank based in Pennsylvania and has been a major donor to the Republican Party.
President Donald Trump repeatedly nominated Toretti to serve as ambassador to Malta, but the US Senate returned her nomination in both 2019 and 2020, citing her lack of qualifications.
At the time of her nomination, several newspapers reported on the restraining order that had been obtained by Steven Knope, the doctor of her ex-husband Lute Olson, back in 2008.
According to Knope, Toretti, known at the time as Christine Olson, “behaved in a threatening manner” to staff members, then walked past reception to his office, where, according to court documents, she placed a target-practice sheet on his desk chair which contained 25 bullet holes to the paper head and body.
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