Romania Seeks Math Olympic Winner’s Release From Italian Prison-Paper

Bogdan Gabriel Ionescu, age 22, winner of the Balkans Mathematics Olympic, was sentenced to three years and a month in prison by the Italian authorities, on charges of electronic fraud.

Ionescu was part of a Romanian crime group that defrauded tens of thousands Italian nationals of a total EUR200,000, using a phishing scheme.

The Romanian authorities apprehended Ionescu and the other members of the group last year. The perpetrators were afterward extradited to Italy, Il Giornale mentioned.

According to the Italian paper, it was only after the extradition that the Romanian authorities realized the young mathematician’s value and now they are trying to obtain his release.

“That idiot of Bogdan, and we are such idiots ourselves – those in Bucharest must have told themselves when they realized the young man’s value and just how easy they gave him up to please the Italian authorities and public opinion,” the paper commented.