The real estate investor was jailed on an international arrest warrant on Nov. 24, Bloomberg reported. He was released within 24 hours under the condition that he remain in Greece. Greek and Romanian authorities confirmed the arrest, which originated from a bribery conviction in Romania.
Romania’s Supreme Court handed down a five-year sentence last December, overturning a lower court’s June 2019 decision to acquit Steinmetz and business partner Tal Silberstein. The high court ruled the pair collaborated with a Romanian businessman and the grandson of the former king in an attempt to defraud the state.
Israeli business news website Globes also notes that “Steinmentz was detained, even though the order for his detention was cancelled in all European countries, before his flight to Greece. Steinmetz is being allowed to move freely around Greece but is being prevented from leaving the country, until the matter is clarified.”
