Sorin Ovidiu Vântu (; 23 November 1955,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

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

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, 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. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

between 2.1 and 2.3 billion euros. On 16 June 2009, during a TV interview on B1 TV, former president

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

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

Value Added Tax A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

. Vântu later denied the accusation, and sued Băsescu for

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

, 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 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 ...

. 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 A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

.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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vantu, Sorin Ovidiu Living people 1955 births People from Roman, Romania Romanian businesspeople Romanian prisoners and detainees Romanian extortionists

See also

References