Three people, including a well-known lawyer in Ploiesti, were preliminarily arrested on Tuesday evening in a real estate fraud case involving losses of more than a million euros.

Judicial sources told the Agerpres agency that the judge on rights and freedoms of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal accepted the prosecutors’ proposal and ordered the preventive arrest of the lawyer Vlad Nichita and two representatives of the developer, who are members of the same family (mother and son).

With regard to the other person for whom preventive arrest was requested, the notary, the court chose a measure in the form of house arrest, the sources said.

16 people were injured, the damage exceeded one million euros

According to a statement released earlier by the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Appeal (PCA) Ploiesti, 15 searches were carried out at the headquarters of real estate developers in the White Tower and City Gate residential complexes in Ploiesti, notaries offices and law firms, and eight arrest warrants are being executed. .

“In fact, between 18.10.2016 and 20.10.2023, the developer from Ploiesti, using fraudulent means, namely written agreements certified by three public notaries from Ploiesti, misled 16 victims, causing them complete damage. in the amount of 985,500 euros and 424,091 lei (total 1,071,174 euros). In particular, the developer made promises to buy and sell residential apartments, followed by full payment of their compensation by the injured persons, and then alienated them according to purchase and sale contracts in authentic form to other persons,” prosecutors say. .

In continuation of the criminal activity, the lawyer of the Prahov Bar Association, by agreement with the representatives of the developer, used two commercial companies actually under his control to initiate the developer’s bankruptcy procedure, so that the developer would not be able to compensate the victims, the investigators explain.

“Before the opening of bankruptcy proceedings, representatives of the developer, together with a lawyer and other persons, carried out fraudulent liquidation of the property from the inheritance by transferring a part of the real estate free of charge and withdrawing significant sums. funds from the accounts of the business entity. Representatives of the developer were associated with a lawyer in the construction of the CITY GATE residential complex in Ploiesti. Currently, the representatives of the developer have withdrawn from this development project, their place has been taken by another commercial company, which has become a business partner of the lawyer,” the message also states.

Dozens of crimes of fraud, intellectual forgery and fraudulent bankruptcy

In this case, the prosecutor’s office at the Court of Appeal of Ploiesti is conducting an investigation:

• against representatives of the developer, as the case may be, for committing 15 counts of continuing fraud, 2 counts of simple fraud, 26 counts of complicity in official forgery, 1 count of complicity in attempted intellectual forgery, 15 counts of violation. trusts by defrauding creditors and 15 counts of fraudulent bankruptcy;

• against a notary public for committing 6 counts of aggravated fraud, 6 counts of simple fraud, and 15 counts of fraud;

• against the public notary for committing 4 crimes of aiding and abetting fraud in the extended form, 4 crimes of aiding and abetting fraud in the simple form, 1 crime of aiding and abetting attempted fraud, 9 crimes of official forgery and one crime of attempted official forgery;

• against the state notary for committing 2 crimes of aiding and abetting fraud and 2 crimes of intellectual forgery;

• against the attorney, for 15 counts of complicity in continuing fraud, 2 counts of complicity in simple fraud, 15 counts of breach of trust by defrauding creditors, and 15 counts of fraudulent bankruptcy;

• against other persons for committing several crimes, such as complicity in fraud, complicity in breach of trust by defrauding creditors and fraudulent bankruptcy, claiming that by their actions they helped the developer reduce his inheritance in order to justify the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings so that the injured parties could not recover their damage.