The „Las Vegas” case, which targets one of the most extensive chains of gambling halls in Romania – a network that press investigations have shown to have had a profit-sharing agreement with the brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate – has been in the preliminary room at the Bucharest Court of Appeal for over two years.
Although the law provides for a 60-day deadline, the trial on the merits has not started until now. The court ultimately decided to return the case to DIICOT for the reconstruction of the charge of forming an organized criminal group, as shown in an analysis published by Info Sud-Est.
According to the DIICOT indictment, the brothers Mihăiță "Polonezu" and Sorin Doroftei, the founders of the Las Vegas network, are accused of coordinating a structure in which players who won large sums at slot machines were prevented from leaving with the money, through blackmail, threats, or violence.
What the Bucharest Court of Appeal Decided
After several postponements and rulings, the Bucharest Court of Appeal partially upheld the exceptions raised by the defendants and decided to return the case to DIICOT. The court considered that the charge of forming an organized criminal group - the most serious in the case - is not explicitly and clearly formulated.
The judges requested the prosecutors to detail:
- the description of specific facts demonstrating the formation, initiation, or joining of an organized criminal group;
- the date and manner of forming the group;
- the moment of exhaustion of the offense;
- the structure, hierarchy, and coordination of the group;
- elements of stability and continuity over time.
For the other charges - blackmail, assaults, and other violence - the court found that the indictment meets legal requirements.
Additionally, certain pieces of evidence were annulled, including some financial analyses, on the grounds that they were conducted by individuals without legal competence.
The High Court of Cassation and Justice Upheld the Return of the Case
DIICOT contested the decision of the Court of Appeal, as did some of the defendants. The case reached the High Court of Cassation and Justice, in a panel composed of judges Luminița Criștiu-Ninu and Ilie Iulian Dragomir, under the leadership of Lia Savonea.
After four months, the High Court of Cassation and Justice rejected both DIICOT's appeal and those of the defendants, and the case was definitively returned to the prosecutors for the reconstruction of the charge of forming an organized criminal group.
According to the cited legal experts, almost all the acts in the case prescribe in approximately 3-4 years, and given that the trial on the merits has not started, "it is unlikely that the statute of limitations will not be invoked for several offenses until a final sentence is reached."
The Charges Formulated by DIICOT
In the indictment, DIICOT alleges that the brothers Mihăiță "Polonezu" and Sorin Doroftei coordinated, through "internal security employees," a network that operated in several counties, preventing players from leaving with the amounts won at slot machines in Las Vegas casinos.
Prosecutors claim that blackmail, threats, and violence were used.
The case involves 85 individuals: 11 victims, 4 companies, and 70 defendants.
Scenes of Violence Described in the Indictment
A passage from the indictment describes an assault captured by surveillance cameras:
"(...) it was found that, while inside the Las Vegas Iuliu Maniu hall in Bucharest, the defendants Șpac Vladimir Florin and Sîrbu Marian alias "Box," as well as Bobu Dan-Gabriel, repeatedly and intensely hit the man who appeared in the first two recordings. The blows applied by the three men are extremely violent and seem to bring the assaulted individual to a state close to unconsciousness in the end (...)"
Prosecutors also state that Mihăiță Doroftei reproached them for assaulting the victim in a location captured by cameras: "You could have taken him to the bathroom."
In another conversation detailed in the case, an employee tells a defendant:
"Claudiu, give him one in the mouth from me. Break his teeth! Maim him!"
An arrest warrant for 30 days was issued for Mihăiță Doroftei, which could not be executed after he disappeared from Romania. Currently, he is under a nationwide search.
Investments in Dubai and Connections with the Tate Brothers
According to a 2025 G4Media investigation, Sorin Doroftei owns 16 properties in Dubai. He stated that these are apartments purchased in the project phase for investment purposes and denied any connection between the criminal case and investments in the Emirates.
In addition, investigations published by Buletin de București, RISE Project, and OCCRP have shown that the brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate allegedly had a profit-sharing agreement with the "Las Vegas" group of the Doroftei brothers. The casino network denied the accusations and claimed to have severed ties with the Tate brothers.
Las Vegas owns over 300 gaming halls in 31 counties, and three companies control the slot machine licenses. Between 2016-2022, these companies accumulated revenues of nearly 1 billion lei.