Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu gets ten-year prison sentence

The Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced Romanian investor Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu to ten years in prison in the case of the misappropriation of the assets of the SNP Petrom Employees Association, Agerpres reported. The decision in this case, the fifth against him, is final. In the same case, the Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced union leader Liviu Luca to also ten years in prison, upholding his previous sentence. Vîntu's previous sentence in this case was of ten years and six months in prison, Digi24 reported. The case concerning the misappropriation of the assets of the SNP Petrom Employees Association began in 2014. According to Romania’s Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, together with Liviu Luca and Octavian Turcan, created a criminal group between 2005 and 2006 aimed at obtaining funds from the assets of the SNP Petrom Employees Association. In 2017, Vîntu was sentenced to eight years in prison in a case related to the fall of the National Investment Fund (FNI), one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Romania. The court requested the confiscation of USD 13 million from the businessman in this case. He is currently serving this sentence. In 2016, he and Liviu Luca received a final sentence of six years in jail in the case of embezzlement and money laundering related to the bankruptcy of the former Petromservice, a company that used to provide services for OMV Petrom. In June 2012, Vîntu was sentenced to one year in prison for blackmailing his business partner, Sebastian Ghita, and in 2014 he was convicted to two years of jail time for helping fugitive Nicolae Popa, another one of his collaborators in the FNI business. He served both sentences. For some 10 years, Sorin Ovidiu Vantu was one of the most powerful people in Romania. He controlled a wide range of businesses and influenced local politics through his media group, which included several TV channels (including Realitatea TV), radio stations, newspapers, and a news agency. editor@romania-insider.com