Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu (; 23 November 1955,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) is a Romanian businessman and owner of the Realitatea-Cațavencu media company. In 2007, he was considered the 4th richest man in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, with an estimated

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

between 2.1 and 2.3 billion euros. On 16 June 2009, during a TV interview on

B1 TV B1 TV is a Romanian television network which began broadcasting in 2001 as a general-profile channel and became a news channel in 2011. B1 TV broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week all over the country. Overview B1 TV's main purpose i ...

, former president

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

accused Vîntu of tax evasion by allegedly not paying 60 million euros worth of

Value Added Tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

. Vântu later denied the accusation, and sued Băsescu for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, asking for 1 million euros in damages. Vîntu was sentenced to two years in prison in 2005 for using some false documents to gain majority shares in the Investment and Development Bank (BID), which went bankrupt in 2002. Later the

Bucharest Court of Appeals Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

ordered by final decision the discontinuation of the trial finding that the charges passed their

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

. On 21 June 2012, he was sentenced to one year in prison following the blackmail accusation of his ex business partner, Sebastian Ghiță.UPDATE SOV, un an de închisoare cu executare.
, Andrei Aștefănesei, ''Adevărul'' (romanian). Retrieved 2012-06-21. In September 2010 he was briefly arrested, being accused of having helped Nicolae Popa, the former CEO of BID. On 21 February 2016, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for a ponzi scheme.Home » News » Sorin Ovidiu Vintu sentenced to eight years in prison for ponzi scheme fund FNI Sorin Ovidiu Vintu sentenced to eight years in prison for ponzi scheme fund FNI
Georgiana Bendre, ''Business Review''. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

References

Living people 1955 births People from Roman, Romania Romanian businesspeople Romanian prisoners and detainees Romanian extortionists {{Romania-stub

See also

References