Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania and the Bidens

War Room Operations Dig “Biden Cyprus Bun”: >>8112617 pb >>8095738 pb

(Part 1 of 7)

Popoviciu – “The businessman with a finger in every pizza pie” (part 5 article title)

Popoviciu reached a purchase agreement for 224 hectares (553 acres) land with University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in the Banesa District of Bucharest. Popoviciu constructed Banesa Shopping City 2008-2011 on University land. A new US Embassy constructed on a 4.4 hectacre (11 acres) plot and opened March 2012.

Romanian Courts convicted Popoviciu for corrupt land purchases in August 2012. Popoviciu then fled to England.

What significant US political activities occurred afterwards? The new US Embassy facility officially opened March 22, 2012. In May 2014, VP Biden visited Biden. Two weeks later in June, Defense Secretary Hagle visited Romania and 2 US Navy ships hap opportunity to make port visits.

In Ukraine, April 2014, Hunter Biden joined Devon Archer on the board of energy company Burisma Holdings. Burisma Holdings would pay associates fees directly to Biden’s company Rosemont Seneca in Washington.

In early June, 2014, neighboring Bulgaria cancelled the Russian South Stream Gas Pipeline agreement with Russia, following a visit by 3 US Senators (Chris Murphy, Ron Johnson, and… [McCain] ). The Russian annexation of Crimea in April created pressure from the EU and US to cancel the pipeline with Russia.

Bread #10368 notable >>8099844, >>8099850. >>8099862 Romania, Biden, McCain and Pipeline, moar on Russian South Stream gas pipeline

“Biden, McCain, and a gas Pipeline bypassing Ukraine in 2014”

In December 2014, President Putin announced the Russia South Stream Gas Pipeline was cancelled. In Ukraine, Chicago born investment banker and USAID diplomat was appointed Ukraine Minister of Finance (Dec ’14 – May ’16). She then went to work at Aspen Institute and the Financial Reform Board in Puerto Rico.

Sept 2015, the US State Department foreign aid program U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a $956,000 grant to support Transgaz S.A.’s Pipeline Expansion Project.

Did not find additional details on Hunter Biden’s consulting services with Popoviciu other than the recent articles, specifically the work of Rudy Giuliani, who would likely have access to documents.

But this should provide a history for the Anons.

Sauce articles are provided in chronological order along with the Rudy Giuliani video from October.

Gabriel “Puiu” Popoviciu https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Popoviciu [Romanian]

U.S. Embassy to Romania moves to new headquarters in Baneasa area of Bucharest (Sept 6, 2011)

https://www.romania-insider.com/u-s-embassy-to-romania-moves-to-new-hedquarters-in-baneasa-area-of-bucharest/

The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest has moved to its new headquarters located on a 4.5-hectare site north of Bucharest, close to the Baneasa mall and will open its gates on September 14, according to the institution. The current U.S. Embassy at 7-9 Tudor Arghezi downtown Bucharest, which has hosted the US Embassy since 1944, will close at 17:00 hours on September 7.

The new building was designed and constructed by a U.S. company, American International Contractors. Several Romanian contractors and construction firms helped to build the new embassy and up to 500 Romanians worked on the new headquarters. There were 1,500 Romanian specialists and workers overall, bringing USD 60 million to the Romanian economy, according to the institution.

The embassy will feature paintings, photography and sculpture by Romanian and American artists. The atrium features a mural called “Drafts and Open Windows,” a project of the Art in Embassies program that is a collaboration between U.S. artist Maggie Michael and Romanian artists.

>>8119872

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 2 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

United States Dedicates New Embassy Compound in Bucharest, Romania (March 22, 2012)

https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/03/186638.htm

press release excerpt:

Celebrating over 130 years of U.S.-Romanian diplomatic relations, U.S. Ambassador to Romania, Mark H. Gitenstein dedicated the new Embassy facility in Bucharest today. Romanian Senate President Vasile Blaga, Prime Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, and Managing Director of Operations at the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) Leo Hession, participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Joseph R. “Beau” Biden, III, Attorney General of the State of Delaware, delivering the keynote address.

The new facility is located in the Baneasa commercial district, adjacent to the Tunari Forest, and consolidates Embassy staff to improve coordination and communication among the various embassy sections.

Defense Secretary visits Romania, says U.S. will maintain a regular naval presence in the Black Sea (June 5, 2014)

https://www.romania-insider.com/defense-secretary-visits-romania-says-u-s-will-maintain-a-regular-naval-presence-in-the-black-sea

“The U.S. has maintained a regular naval presence in the Black Sea since mid-March, with the USS Truxton, the USS Donald Cook and the USS Taylor all conducting port calls in Romania, and we will sustain this tempo going forward,” Hagel said.

His visit to Romania is the first made by an US Defense Secretary since 2004, when Romania joined NATO. It comes just weeks after high profile U.S. visit to Romania, that of Vice President Joe Biden. This shows a growing interest for the region from Washington officials, in the context of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and conflict in Ukraine.

USTDA Strengthens Support For Energy Security In Romania (Sep 24, 2015)

https://ro.usembassy.gov/ustda-strengthens-support-energy-security-romania/

BUCHAREST, Romania – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a $956,000 grant to support Transgaz S.A.’s Pipeline Expansion Project. The grant funds a feasibility study to improve and confirm the technical design and economic and financial specifications for constructing the Romanian section of the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria Connector (BHRA) and the Black Sea-Shore-Podisor Connector gas pipeline projects.

The grant was signed at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest by U.S. Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm and Transgaz S.A. Director General Petru Ion Vaduva. Also present at the grant signing were the Minister of Economy, Mihai Tudose; the Minister of Energy, Andrei Dominic Gerea; Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu, Special Representative for Energy Security; and U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Dean Thompson.

“The proposed upgrades to the Romanian National Transmission Network, evaluated by this study, will facilitate increased bilateral trade and support energy security throughout the region,” said Ambassador Klemm. Director General Petru Vaduva said, “Transgaz believes that this study will be instrumental in providing comfort to all market participants that the integration of the Romanian National Network with neighboring countries will soon become a reality. This integration will establish the much-needed connection between Southern and Central Europe, while ensuring the security of supply and transparency of pricing in the region.”

The projects are a critical piece necessary to increase pipeline capacity and upgrade the gas transmission network’s operating pressure, and ultimately energy security in the region. Through the modernization and construction of the new pipelines, Transgaz intends to distribute anticipated new gas resources from the Black Sea, as well as conduct bi-directional gas trade with neighboring countries.

This grant builds on a USTDA-funded reverse trade mission in 2013 that hosted 17 Romanian business leaders and government officials in the United States. The visit helped demonstrate advanced U.S. upstream oil and gas production technologies, practices, and regulations meant to help Romanian stakeholders plan for the development of offshore resources along the Black Sea.

>>8119879

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 3 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

Profile: Puiu Popoviciu – one of Romania’s most discrete moguls (June 23, 2016)

https://business-review.eu/news/profile-puiu-popoviciu-one-of-romanias-most-discrete-moguls-110165

Gabriel ‘Puiu’ Popoviciu is one of the most influential players on the Romanian real estate market, with business interests spanning numerous sectors. His business connections and important political connections are largely unknown, glimpses into his extensive network only emerging in occasional press reports and, most recently, investigation reports.

On Thursday the Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced real estate mogul Gabriel ‘Puiu’ Popoviciu to nine years in jail for complicity to abuse of office and bribery. Popoviciu was prosecuted in 2012 by the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) in a case involving the illegal purchase of a state-owned plot of land that at present hosts the headquarters of many major companies.

The 224-hectare plot was owned by the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) and as such could not be sold. However, following a series of agreements with Ioan Niculae Alecu, USAMV provost at the time, Popoviciu purchased the land at a price that way way under the market value. Specifically, according to the DNA prosecutors, the land was bought via SC Baneasa Investments SA, a company owned by Popoviciu, at the price of USD 1 per sq. meter, while the market price was around EUR 150 per sq. meter. Alongside Popoviciu, several officials, including former Bucharest Prefect Mihai Ion Luican, and Cornel Serban, the former head of DGIPI, the intelligence service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were also sentenced to one year and two years and six months in prison, respectively. Popoviciu was sent to court in 2012 following a denounce by George Becali.

Puiu Popoviciu is arguably one of the most controversial and well-connected figures on the Romanian real estate market. He started building his business empire immediately after the 1989 Revolution, following a stint in the US. He opened under franchise ownership restaurant chains Pizza Hut (1994), Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in 1997. In 2010 he opened the first IKEA store in Romania also under franchise agreements.

Moreover, together with his business partner Radu Dimofte, he is behind one of the major real estate projects in Bucharest, which includes Baneasa Mall and other office and residential buildings located north of the city. The project is valued at around EUR 2 billion.

Popoviciu is a key player on the hospitality sector, and ranks among the most important hotel owners in the capital. He controls the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza, Ramada Plaza and Ramada Parc hotels. He is also behind restaurant Casa Doina as well as companies Alltrom and Comaliment.

Convicted Romanian investor sues Romania at Washington court (Aug 28, 2018)

https://www.romania-insider.com/gabriel-popoviciu-sues-romania-washington/

Two firms registered in Cyprus linked with Romanian investor Gabriel Popoviciu, the owner of the Baneasa Shopping City, have filed a complaint against Romania at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, local Profit.ro reported.

The two firms accuse Romania of breaching the bilateral treaty for protecting investments signed with Cyprus in 1991. The president, prime minister, justice minister and finance minister are among the culprits.

The two firms are represented by two British lawyers and the London office of the U.S. law firm Shearman & Sterling, one of the biggest in the world. According to sources familiar with this case, the complaint targets the distraint imposed by the Romanian prosecutors on some assets the two firms own in Romania.

Gabriel Popoviciu was sentenced to 7 years in jail last year, in a corruption case related to the way in which he acquired the 224-hectare land plot where he developed the Baneasa real estate project. He got the land through an association contract with the Agronomy University in Bucharest.

Popoviciu is currently in London. One of his lawyers is former FBI director Louis Freeh, who recently spoke with Forbes magazine about five measures to reestablish rule of law in Romania.

>>8119890

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 4 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

Romanian court rules that the land under Bucharest’s biggest retail area and U.S. Embassy returns to the state (Dec 28, 2018)

https://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-court-baneasa-land-state/

The Bucharest Court of Appeal has ruled that 224 hectares of land in Bucharest’s Baneasa area, where some of Bucharest’s biggest retail projects and the U.S. Embassy are located, must return to the state. The decision is not final and can be challenged, according to Digi24.ro.

The land targeted by this sentence currently belongs to Romanian investor Gabriel Popoviciu, who was convicted to seven years in jail, in August 2017, for having illegally obtained it from the Bucharest Agronomy University in the early 2000s. The High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled at that time that Popoviciu must return the land to the state.

According to the anticorruption prosecutors, the Agronomy University gave the land to Baneasa Investments, a company jointly owned by Gabriel Popoviciu and the University, at a value of USD 1 per sqm while the real value was some EUR 150 per sqm.

Baneasa Investments used the land to develop one of the biggest real estate projects in Bucharest, including office buildings that host the headquarters of several multinationals, the Baneasa mall and the first IKEA store in Romania. The U.S. Embassy also built its new headquarters on a land plot provided by Popoviciu.

Gabriel Popoviciu, who fled to England just before the court ruled in his case, has managed to dodge incarceration and hired international law firms and consultants, including a former FBI director, to lobby for him and denounce alleged abuses by Romanian anticorruption authorities. A letter sent by former New York mayor and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to Romanian president Klaus Iohannis earlier this year, proved to be a result of this lobby.

Two firms registered in Cyprus and believed to be controlled by Popoviciu also filed a complaint against the Romanian state at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington. They accused Romania of breaching the bilateral treaty for protecting investments signed with Cyprus and asked for compensations of “at least USD 200 million”, according to media reports

>>8119897

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 5 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

Gabriel “Puiu” Popoviciu — The businessman with a finger in every pizza pie (Aug 23, 2017)

https://medium.com/romania-corruption-watch/gabriel-puiu-popoviciu-the-businessman-with-a-finger-in-every-pizza-pie-d898673d34a9

On paper Popoviciu seems like the perfect businessman, dealing in everything from computer parts to pizza to real estate, but in reality, like may of Romania’s “Cardboard Billionaires” his main assets are his connections, especially the political ones. Popoviciu has long maintained very friendly relations with decision-makers, both at the central but especially at the local level. He was very close to several politicians, including Traian Băsescu, the charismatic mayor of Bucharest turned two-term president of Romania. Indeed, it was Băsescu who signed off on the transfer of some of the best real estate in Bucharest for less that 1$ per square meter from a state institution to one of Popoviciu’s many companies. At the time, experts estimated the damage this deal caused to the Romanian state at over €1 billion.

Băsescu’s successor to Bucharest city hall was on equally friendly terms with Puiu Popoviciu. Adriean Videanu — businessman, politician and Mayor of Romania’s capital signed off on further development plans on Popoviciu’s newly acquired real estate. Once mayor Videanu had given the green light, the real estate, now connected to the city’s utilities (power, water and sewage grids) blossomed almost overnight into a new luxury development where, who other than then President Băsescu’s youngest daughter MEP Elena Băsescu was one of the first to move in. The US embassy, looking for land to build a more secure facility, was a close second. Faced with such prestigious clients, Popoviciu was more than happy to provide the land at a considerable markup.

Unfortunately the land itself had been bought illegally through a shell company and re-purposed from its initial role as experimental farmland belonging to the University of Agronomy Studies (USAMV). Far from abandoned, as Puiu claimed while repurposing it, it was still in use by agriculture students at the time of sale. But since USAMV was relegated to the role of minority shareholder over its own lands, once friendly city hall mayors agreed to Puiu’s plans, there was no stopping the massive real estate projects that followed.

Needless to say, the land deal that made Popoviciu one of Romania’s wealthiest men took place under shady circumstances. Equally needless to say that, upon investigation by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate, the so-called “Băneasa” affair found a loss of €600 million in to the state. Puiu was convicted to 9 years in prison, a sentence that was then reduced to 7 in the final judgment issued by the court on August 2nd — a devastating blow for a man who had always benefitted from having friends in high places. But much like one errant billionaire — Sebastian Ghita — Puiu was nowhere to be found after the judge’s gavel fell. Turns out, the businessmen fled the country in June and the Romanian authorities have issued a European Arrest Warrant to his name. Some have speculated that he is in the United States, where his long-time mistress, Dorothy Constantin, has just given birth to the couple’s baby girl.

>>8119904

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 6 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

Giuliani: Hunter Biden Reportedly Involved with Romanian Locked Up for Corruption (Oct 10, 2019)

https://www.westernjournal.com/giuliani-hunter-biden-reportedly-involved-romanian-locked-corruption/

article video: https://youtu.be/vkQZ-mxUUEI

It’s hit Ukraine. It’s hit China. The blowback has hit the United States presidential election cycle.

And now, according to Rudy Giuliani, it’s hit Romania.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer said Americans should watch the Eastern European country as the next potential front in the saga of Hunter Biden.

“I want you to keep you eye not just on China. I want you to keep your eye on Romania. Just watch Romania,” Giuliani said.

“You won’t read it in The New York Times or The Washington Post,” Giuliani said after Hannity attempted to change the subject.

“But just watch Romania.”

Giuliani is wrong here: In fact, you could actually read about it in The New York Times.

Back in May, the paper broke the story in an article titled, “Trump’s Demands for Investigations of Opponents Draw Intensifying Criticism.”

“In addition to his work in Ukraine for the energy company Burisma, Hunter Biden advised a Romanian businessman with ties to the United States, Gabriel Popoviciu, whose real estate dealings had come under investigation, according to people familiar with the arrangement, which has not been previously reported,” The Times reported.

“The investigation, which came as the United States and its allies were pushing Romania to clamp down on corruption, led to Mr. Popoviciu’s conviction and a prison sentence.”

According to Fox News, Popoviciu — who is said to have opened the first Pizza Hut in Romania — was sentenced to seven years behind bars for corruption.

The U.K. Daily Mail reported there may have been deeper ties between Hunter Biden and Popoviciu than just an advisory role.

RELATED: War Hero Rips Biden for ‘Ridiculous’ Praise of Vindman: ‘I Would’ve Fired Him Too’

Yes, even deeper than any possible involvement in Pizza Hut. (To be fair, there’s no evidence the former vice president’s son got involved in that — and why would he, given how wretched their pizza is?)

In late September, a local Romanian outlet reported that “Hunter Biden was involved in real estate business in Bucharest and allegedly tried to lobby in favor of” the real estate magnate, according to the Daily Mail.

G4Media.ro reported on the alleged links shortly after the Ukraine whistleblower scandal broke.

Beyond the question of whether or not there’s anything untoward here, this again raises the question of why Hunter Biden — not necessarily the most reliable of individuals unless you needed, for some reason, to find someone who would fail a drug test — kept on getting plum roles in international business.

If Romania becomes yet another pie an otherwise unqualified individual had his fingers in, this starts to raise even more serious question about his father’s conflicts of interest.

No, nearest we can tell, Joe Biden didn’t get any Romanian prosecutors fired.

(Or, at the very least, there exists no videos of him at a Council on Foreign Relations event bragging about how, “son of a b—-,” he managed to do it.)

That said, if Romania becomes yet another country where the Neil Bush of the 2020 election cycle managed to make money in a sketchy-sounding way, this could change the calculus of the 2020 election cycle somewhat.

Thus far, Biden’s primary opponents have held their fire on the Hunter issue — not, one suspects, out of an excess of benevolence toward the former vice president but due to the fear that any fruit of the Trumpian tree will be poisonous when eaten.

If the list of countries grows any longer or the scandal gets any deeper, however, it’s not a question of if but when someone decides to take a bite.

>>8119911

Gabriel Popoviciu, US Embassy in Romania, and the Bidens

(Part 7 of 7) War Room Dig >>8112617 pb

Hunter Biden Was Hired To Run Interference For A Corrupt Romanian Tycoon (Oct 24, 2019)

https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/24/hunter-biden-was-hired-to-run-interference-for-a-corrupt-romanian-tycoon/

In 2016, Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel “Puiu” Popoviciu, who was accused of orchestrating a corrupt land deal, hired Hunter Biden to “advise” him as he aimed to dodge federal prosecution. At the same time, Hunter’s father Joe Biden was claiming to be pushing Romania to clean up political corruption.

NBC News reported Hunter Biden may have simply been used as a prop while Popoviciu was evading prosecution. This is the third questionable relationship between a foreign government, the Obama administration, and the former vice president’s son.

First it was Hunter Biden sitting on the board of a Ukrainian oil company, which he was not qualified to sit on, making some $80,000 per month. Meanwhile, Joe Biden claimed to be fighting corruption in Ukraine by firing the prosecutor who was prosecuting the company on whose board Hunter Biden sat.

Hunter Biden’s potentially very lucrative investments in China have also been scrutinized recently. When given the opportunity to vindicate himself during an exclusive ABC interview this month, Hunter Biden vowed to divest himself from his monetary investments in China and claimed he would not serve on the board of any other foreign entity, like he did in Ukraine, because that appears corrupt.

“Well, this is what becomes a distraction. Because I have to sit here and answer these questions. And so that’s why I’ve committed that I won’t serve on any boards or I won’t work directly for any foreign entities when my dad becomes president,” Hunter Biden said.

Now, the younger Biden has been accused of working and profiting in a third country — Romania — where his father was working to end corruption.

While it is likely Joe Biden will call his poor judgement and alleged corruption a hoax created by the Trump administration, his fellow 2020 candidates frontrunners, namely Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, may try to criticize him as they push what they call anti-corruption plans.

After the allegations against the Biden family garnered national attention, Joe Biden’s polling numbers slipped from approximately 37 percent to his current stature at 27.2 percent. Warren is trailing behind Biden by approximately 5 points, coming in at 21.8 percent.

as they say, "digging finds the dirt"

WWG1WGA !

>>8119911

>>8119938

ThanQ for commenting,

Even more amazing of "119" and "911" is the person of the article

RUDY GIULIANI

(articles were in chronological order and posted as qresearch loded… Coincidence? )

Thank You

Baker !!!