Court rules new jail sentence for Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu

Romanian businessman and former media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vintu has been sentenced by the Supreme Court to two years in jail for helping Nicolae Popa in the FNI bankruptcy case. The court’s decision is final. On January 25, Vintu was taken into custody by the police and will most likely spend the first 21 days at Rahova penitentiary. The Prison Administration is to set the place of detention in about a month. In 2010, Vintu was charged with allegedly sending money to Indonesia to Nicolae Popa, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in the FNI case. According to the prosecutors, Popa needed the money to hide from the authorities entitled to enforce the European warrant issued for him, for the execution of the 15 years sentence. Back in 2012, the Romanian businessman was convicted and sentenced to one year in jail for having blackmailed the former manager of Realitatea Media, Sebastian Ghita. He served the sentence at Jilava penitentiary and was released in May 2013. Vintu, together with two others, were investigated for helping Nicolae Popa, who had been convicted to jail in the Gelsor – FNI bankruptcy case, but who fled the country to Indonesia, escaping imprisonement. Popa was extradited to Romania in 2011 FNI (Fondul National de Investitii) was a pyramid (Ponzi) scheme in the late 1990s. The investment fund went bankrupt in 2000, when thousands of people lost their savings deposited in the fund. FNI was a project started by Sorin Ovidiu Vintu, who has never been convicted in direct connection to this case. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Agerpres)