Romanian oligarch and former Hunter Biden business associate Gabriel Popoviciu won his years-long extradition case in British court this July.
The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court discharged Popoviciu’s extradition request after a six-year litigation battle beginning in 2017 when Popoviciu fled his home country to reside in the UK, according to the EU Reporter. His case is also set to be relitigated in Romania after the nation’s high court suspended his seven-year jail sentence in June, local outlet Romania-Insider reported. (RELATED: Meet Kenes Rakishev, The Newest Foreign Oligarch In The Hunter Biden Saga)
The victory follows Popoviciu’s June 2021 victory in London’s high court resulting in the suspension of his extradition back to Romania. London’s high court alleged the Romanian judge who convicted Popoviciu was involved in corrupt activities that were not investigated as part of the case, court documents show.
Popoviciu was convicted by Romanian anti-corruption authorities in 2016 for corruption related to a land use development project in Bucharest, according to the New York Times. The outlet filed a lawsuit against the State Department in January 2022 to obtain records of correspondence between U.S. officials in Romania related to Hunter Biden and his business associates. (RELATED: Devon Archer Appeared To Meet With Then-Secretary Of State John Kerry Leading Up To Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Ouster)
He allegedly paid Hunter Biden and his business associates $3 million from 2015-17 through holding company Bladon Enterprises, a Cyprus-based LLC he used to conduct business, bank records released in May by the House Oversight Committee confirm. The payments were apparently sent to Hunter Biden’s business associate Rob Walker’s LLC and he allegedly wired more than $1 million to Biden family accounts, House Oversight discovered. Joe Biden served as vice president when 16 of Popoviciu’s 17 payments to Walker were wired to Robinson Walker LLC.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower Joseph Ziegler confirmed the $3 million worth of payments from Romania when he testified in July to describe the Biden family’s alleged foreign business dealings and the DOJ investigation into the president’s son.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – APRIL 14: In this handout image provided by the Irish Government, US President Joe Biden departs Dublin Airport on Air Force One with his sister Valerie and son Hunter on April 14, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. US President Joe Biden has travelled to Northern Ireland and Ireland with his sister Valerie Biden Owens and son Hunter Biden to explore his family’s Irish heritage and mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. (Photo by Julien Behal/Irish Government via Getty Images)
Popoviciu appealed his corruption case with assistance from former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who Hunter Biden recruited to join the case around the time he was convicted, emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop archive demonstrate.
“Hope you are well. I am working with a client- Romanian businessman- along with my colleagues at Boies Schiller- Chris Boies and Michael Gotlieb- on a matter that I would like you to take a look at if you have time. I’ve become very close to the client personally and he is in my estimation a very good man that’s being very badly treated by a suspect Romanian justice system,” Biden wrote to Freeh in June 2016.
Hunter Biden decided in November 2015 to bring Boies Schiller Flexner LLP Partner Michael Gottlieb into the fold as part of his plan to meet with the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. and State Department officials, he said in November 2015.
“I wanted to get Karen Dunn and Mike Gotleib [sic] (potentially) working on this issue also. Two approaches that I think would be most effective are one, visiting with the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. and two, reaching out to our State Dept. on an information only basis,” Biden wrote.
Biden and Gottlieb appeared to schedule a meeting in November 2015 at a Washington, D.C., hotel, emails indicate. Popoviciu had already met at the law firm’s NYC office, according to an email from Boies Schiller Flexner LLP partner Christopher Boies.
Flight records from Biden’s laptop archive show Biden and Gottlieb went to Romania in November 2015 with a plan to meet with the U.S. Ambassador Hans G. Klemm. The pair created a memo to send to Klemm containing details of Popoviciu’s legal situation. It’s unclear if the memo was sent to Klemm or if the meeting took place.
Freeh met with Popoviciu’s representatives at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, the law firm that employed Hunter Biden, later in June 2016, emails indicate. Boies Schiller had communicated with State Department officials on Popoviciu’s behalf in an attempt to arrange a meeting with Romanian officials to address Popoviciu’s situation, emails from May 2016 show.
The former FBI director officially began working for Popoviciu the next months and offered to pay Hunter Biden for the referral, an email from July 2016 shows.
“Thank you Judge Freeh. Looks like we may have caught a break with the publication of the ruling (“motivation” in Gab’s words) on the abuse of office/power statute. According to G it clearly states that cases fitting the exact description of his would no longer be valid prosecutions as a matter of law. Please keep me informed and give Gab my best. So honored that you agreed to take this on,” Hunter Biden wrote in response.
In multiple instances, Freeh floated working with Joe Biden and suggested he could use Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
connections to assist Popoviciu with his legal troubles, according to emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options,” Freeh said on July 9, 2016.
“Separately, I would like to talk with you and Dad about working together next year. No doubt both he and you have many options and probably some which are more attractive than my small shop,” he said in August 2016. Freeh had been keeping Hunter Biden and Rob Walker in the loop about his legal work for Popoviciu following his initial conviction, emails demonstrate.
Freeh later requested Joe Biden’s contact information after the pair ran into each other at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C, a March 2017 email shows. Hunter Biden sent Freeh his father’s phone number and his assistant’s email. It’s unclear if Freeh ended up working with Joe Biden.
“I am deeply disappointed in the recent decision of Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice to affirm the criminal conviction of Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, and sentence him to seven years in prison. This sentence and conviction are not supported by either the facts or the law,” Freeh stated in an August 2017 press release when Popoviciu’s appeal failed in Romanian court.
Popoviciu fled to the UK right after the appeal and turned himself in to police, according to EU reporter. His extradition was initially granted by a lower court prior to his successful appeal in 2021.
Freeh is a sitting board member of the Beau Biden Foundation, a charity established by the Biden family after Beau Biden died of brain cancer in May 2015 at age 46. He was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton and previously served as a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.