Tag: Romanian Americans

Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani is being paid to assist lawyers working to free a wealthy Romanian-American real estate magnate who was convicted and sentenced to prison over a corrupt land deal. Rudy Giuliani attacks Romania for 'excessive' crackdown on corruption Read more Giuliani last week wrote to Romania’s president and prime minister to complain about the nature of their country’s efforts to tackle corruption. Freeh represents Gabriel “Puiu” Popoviciu, who was convicted in 2016 of crimes relating to his purchase of land in Bucharest that he developed into a shopping mall. In a statement last year, Freeh said he had concluded that Popoviciu’s conviction and sentence were “not supported by either the facts or the law” after reviewing the case with a team that included former federal prosecutors. Giuliani said he wrote his letter to Romania following “a review of the work done by Louis Freeh and Jim Bucknam”, Freeh Group’s chief executive. Bucknam worked for Giuliani as a federal prosecutor during the late 1980s, when Giuliani was the US attorney in Manhattan. While Giuliani’s letter did not mention Popoviciu’s case, he claimed that innocent people had been jailed and that “an amnesty should be given to those who have been prosecuted and convicted through the excesses” of the anticorruption agency. Sign up for the Guardian's US daily email Read more Popoviciu was last reported to have been bailed in the UK pending extradition. The Metropolitan police did not respond to questions about his case. According to Romanian media reports, Freeh Group has also been retained by Alexander Adamescu, a second wealthy Romanian awaiting extradition from London to face charges in his home country.