Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Monday, January 12, 2026, 1:48 p.m. / Updated Monday, January 12, 2026 1:51 p.m.
From the clinic in Milan where he is hospitalized for mental problems, Mario Iorgulescu (30 years old), further investigated in Romania for manslaughter, claims that his father, Gino, taught him to drink from an early age!
More than 6 years have passed since Mario Iorgulescu, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, caused a fatal accident. It was the night of September 7 to 8, 2019 when he entered the opposite direction and, at a speed of 143 km/h, killed the driver of the car that was hit head-on, Daniel Vicol.
Transported to Italy by family members, where he is admitted to a clinic for those with mental problems, Mario Iorgulescu gave details about his relationship with his parents. About his father, Gino, the president of the Professional Football League, made a series of absurd claims.
Mario Iorgulescu, shocking revelations about his father: “At the age of 13, he took me to fiddlers and sprites!”
Asked in the interview given to cancan.ro what were the first words addressed by his parents after the accident, Mario recalled that he felt supported:
“They asked me if I was okay, how I was feeling, and told me to stay calm, that everything would be fine. I burst into tears as soon as they told me that. I didn't expect it, considering what they went through with me. I'm not an easy child to have, bearable, educated. I'm a very generous person, kind to everyone, but not easy to bear.
What they went through with me… But with all that, they were by my side when I woke up from the coma, they told me that everything will be fine. I know many parents who told me: “If you were my son, I would have left you long ago”.
Later, Mario revealed that his father, Gino Iorgulescu, bought him the two cars without his mother's knowledge, and that he would have taught him with drink:
“They would have done absolutely anything to see that I stopped doing drugs and drinking. That was their biggest wish. People condemn my mother, that she is a psychologist and she couldn't do anything. But people don't understand that she tried to, except my dad took my car without my mom knowing.
And the GTL, which I destroyed and that one in Switzerland, also because of the drink. Both the GTL and the Aston Martin were taken without my mother's knowledge. She was trying to come between us. He sent me to a psychologist, I went.
My dad and I… When I was little we used to go out drinking and that's what I learned from a young age. What to do now? I started going out with my father when I was 13, we used to stay for 3 days at fiddlers, with splashes, parties. Maybe he was wrong here too. He really wanted a child, especially a boy.
My mother went through treatment to have me. They tried very hard to have me. when i grew up [tata] he wanted to give me all the pleasures, not to miss anything. (…)
My father and I have always been a team. We went out partying together, we drank together, we lost the nights, we stayed away from home for 3-4 days at a time. Mother put up with us and, despite all that, she still didn't leave us. Thanks to her we have what we have now and we are not on the roads.
If it was just me and dad, there's no telling where I'd end up without her. I thank them, I am grateful to my parents for everything they have done for me”.
Mario Iorgulescu: “I called 50 bodyguards to beat my father!”
The series of hallucinatory statements did not stop there. Mario also claimed that there was a time when dozens of bodyguards were called to go beat his father:
“There was a time when I called 50 bodyguards to beat dad. My bodyguards. Because there was a fight between me and him, he kicked me out of the club. They were mine, I had them and he.
They said he was crazy. Out of 50, 10 stayed with me. They came in with me and made me make peace with my father so that things wouldn't degenerate. I made peace with him. I always made peace with my father”.
The stages of the Mario Iorgulescu case
On the night of September 7 to 8, 2019, the son of the LPF president got behind the wheel of a luxury car while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He entered the wrong direction at 143 km/h, causing a fatal accident. Daniel Vicol, the driver of the car hit head-on by Mario Iorgulescu, died on the spot.
Initially, the son of Gino Iorgulescu was accused of murder and received in 2023 a sentence of 15 years and 8 months in prison from the Bucharest Court. Iorgulescu's lawyers appealed the decision, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 13 years and 8 months in prison.
Iorgulescu's team resorted to another appeal, an appeal in cassation. In June 2024, two of the three judges of the ÎCCJ panel decided to cancel the sentencing decision. It is about Adriana Ispas and Lia Savonea. The third judge, Dan Enescu, formulated a separate opinion.
In the motivation, the two judges justified as follows:
The action of the author (the driver) is on the vehicle, he activated the speed acceleration system above the legal limit, with the consequence of entering into a head-on collision with the car driven by the victim who caused his death, elements of fact that have the valence of an act that (…) falls within the crime of manslaughter. (…)
The crime of homicide would only be possible in the situation where the vehicle was used or accepted to have been used as a means for the purpose of suppressing the victim's life.
As a result, Iorgulescu's act was classified as manslaughter instead of murder, a crime that carries much lower penalties. The appeal was rejudged, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced Mario Iorgulescu to 8 years and 8 months in prison.
Mario Iorgulescu's lawyers also attacked this decision, through an annulment appeal. In June 2025, the Court of Appeals allowed his appeal by two votes out of three, so another 8 months were deducted from the total sentence, up to a total of 8 years.
Here there was a reply from the prosecutors, who filed an appeal in cassation. It was admitted in principle by the ÎCCJ, and the trial date set for February 19, 2026.
Then, the ÎCCJ judges will have two options: rejecting the appeal, if they consider that the decision of the Court of Appeal is correct from a legal point of view, or admitting it, in which case the decision of the Court of Appeal would be annulled.
In this second scenario, the ÎCCJ can order either to send the case for retrial to the CAB, or to acquit the defendant, in case it would establish a serious legal flaw (for example, the erroneous classification of the deed as a crime).
