Romanian Ioana Maria Vlas Faces New Fraud Charges

Eight other people have been indicted for fraud in the same case.

Vlas was convicted for fraud in two different files, one regarding the collapse of the National Investment Fund (for which she received a ten-year sentence) and another concerning the collapse of the National Accumulation Fund (an eight-year sentence). In April 2010, a court ruled to cumulate Vlas’s two sentences and her jail time was reduced to ten years. She had been incarcerated at the Targsor Penitentiary in June 2009 and was released on parole in October last year.

More than 100,000 people lost money they had invested in FNI, and the Romanian state, which had guaranteed their investments, was forced to pay out compensation of more than EUR100 million.