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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. The conviction was upheld last year by an appeals court and Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison. After police struggled to find him, he was located in London and arrested.
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.
…..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.
Popoviciu moved to the US from Romania in the early 1990s with his then wife Doina, the daughter of a former senior official in Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist regime. Both registered to vote in the US, having apparently obtained US citizenship.
The Popovicius lived in New Jersey before buying a $3m condominium together in midtown Manhattan. The couple is reported to have divorced in 2012. Doina Popoviciu now owns the apartment and a neighbouring unit that she bought for $3.6m, according to city records.