On April 3, 2012, the Bucharest Court cleared of charges all eight defendants in the case involving transfers of football players, but anticorruption prosecutors later appealed the ruling with the Bucharest Court of Appeals which issued both suspended and definitive prison sentences at that time. The ruling was subsequently appealed with the High Court of Justice which decided on May 20, 2013 to send the file to the Bucharest Court of Appeals, for retrial.
Mihai Stoica, general manager of football club FC Steaua, has been sentenced Tuesday to three and a half years in prison.
In the same player transfer case, former football manager Ioan Becali was sentenced to six years and four months in prison, football manager Victor Becali to four years and eight months in prison, former FC Rapid owner George Copos to three years and eight months in prison, Gheorghe Netoiu, former shareholder of FC Dinamo and U Craiova, to three years and four months in prison, former FC Gloria Bistrita president Jean Padureanu got three years and four months in prison, former football player Gheorghe Popescu received three years, one month and ten days in prison and former FC Dinamo shareholder Cristian Borcea was sentenced to six years and four months in prison.