The investigations launched by Presshub in 2022 and recently, in 2024, have uncovered a series of contradictory statements made by Mr. Beniamin Lup regarding both the activities of the WorldTeach Association he leads and the sudden deaths of two of his wives.
In the article Shocking. Criminal Investigation in Romania and Moldova into the Suspicious Deaths of Two Wives of Beniamin Lup, President of an Anti-Human Trafficking Association, Presshub published in October 2024 the tragic case of the death at age 42 of Eugenia Lup, Mr. Lup’s first wife, in 2016, as well as the death of his third wife, Rodica Guțan, at age 45 in September 2024 in Chișinău. The full investigation can be read here.
Medical documents in the possession of the police, part of the case file opened by prosecutors in Caraș-Severin for ‘involuntary manslaughter,’ confirm that Eugenia’s death was due to ‘accidental poisoning with secobarbital,’ a sedative-hypnotic banned in Romania since 2000. The police officer handling the case told Presshub that the investigation is in an advanced stage following the collection of documents and numerous witness interviews.
An investigation by: Brîndușa Armanca and Sorin Istrate
Rodica Guțan passed away in circumstances eerily similar to the death of Eugenia Lup, surprising the community in Chișinău, as she was not known to suffer from any terminal illnesses. She died suddenly at home, with only her husband present. The same happened to Eugenia eight years earlier.
Rodica’s mother, Polina Antonieva, a retiree with whom we had a lengthy phone conversation, believes that Beniamin ‘gave her powders’ to bring about her death, as her daughter was determined to tell American funders everything she knew.
Initially, Rodica had complete trust in her husband: “My daughter was blind, she believed everything, but I would tell her not to trust him, that he was Satan with the Bible in his hand. He’s going to kill you.” The elderly woman was distanced by her daughter, with whom she could only speak in secret. When Rodica discovered her husband’s affairs, she confronted him.
The Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the ‘suspicious death,’ conducted home searches, and ordered Rodica’s exhumation for autopsy. The investigation is ongoing.
Deceptive Strategies: Beniamin Lup Was Never a Pastor
Beniamin Lup’s actions as the head of the WorldTeach Association and director for Europe at Uncaged have always been tied to his declared affiliation with the Baptist community. Furthermore, he implied in his public biographies that he was a pastor.
In Moldova, he presented himself as “the leader of the Baptist churches in Romania,” as told to us by the mother of the late Rodica Guțan, Polina Antonieva.
Uncaged, the main U.S. sponsor, is led by Kim Westfall, a person with strong ties to the neo-Protestant Baptist cult, which reinforced trust in the Romanian partner.
The selection of lovers, including wives, was often conditioned by baptism in the Baptist church. Rodica was baptized in November 2017 in preparation for her marriage in March 2018. Denisa, a current employee of the WorldTeach Association, suddenly became religious, according to statements from her former husband, Valentin Malanca,“even though before meeting Beni (Beniamin Lup) she never entered an Orthodox church, even on major holidays”.
Malanca told Presshub that, in his view, Beniamin Lup’s claimed Christian pastor status is “a manipulative tool” used to gain submission.
Presshub mentioned in a previous article, citing sources from the Baptist church, that Beniamin Lup was not a pastor, as he had been presented on various occasions: “Beniamin Lup is the pastor with the mission of the Hope Baptist Church in Anina, president of WorldTeach Romania, and chief of staff for deputy Marius Dugulescu.” Lup has never denied this status.
The publication insidertm.ro learned from a response issued by the Community of Christian Baptist Churches on October 30, 2024, stating that “Mr. Beniamin Lup has never been a Baptist pastor (…) in the Baptist denomination in Romania.” The same statement, signed by Pastor President Ioan Ciocîrteu, also notes that on July 20, 2016, Beniamin Lup was expelled from the Baptist Cult in Romania.
How Many Wives Has Beniamin Lup Had?
In a response to our article published on October 22, 2024, Macabre: Criminal Investigation in Romania and Moldova into the Suspicious Deaths of Two Wives of Beniamin Lup, President of an Anti-Human Trafficking Association, Mr. Beniamin Lup disputes, among other things, the claim that Rodica Guțan was his third legitimate wife. “Rodica was my second wife (not the third, as was incorrectly written),” Mr. Lup emphasizes in the response he sent.
Presshub received a few photos from the civil marriage and wedding of Beniamin Lup to Oxana, a young woman from the Republic of Moldova. We decided not to publish them in order to protect the woman’s privacy.
The newspaper Libertatea, in its article The Wives of Beniamin Lup, Leader of an NGO with U.S. Connections, Dead under Suspicious Circumstances in Romania and Moldova. Two Other Partners Sued After Relationship Breakups, published on November 3, 2024, provides information about Beniamin Lup’s second wife, originally from Moldova. Lup married Oxana a year after the death of his first wife, in May 2017, following a failed attempt to marry another woman, C.A., who rejected him. He divorced Oxana three months later, on September 5, 2017.
Libertatea also reports that Beniamin Lup sued his partners, which he lost.
So far Beniamin Lup has had three legitimate wives: Eugenia, Oxana and Rodica.
Biographies with Embellishments: “Psychosexual Therapist”
In the biographies posted on LinkedIn, including one recently deleted from his personal page, Beniamin Lup describes himself as a lawyer with international experience, an expert and trainer in human trafficking issues, and a member of several prestigious global organizations. “My experience has been utilized in several Committees organized within the Romanian Parliament and in Working Groups at the European Parliament,” Lup wrote on his page under the section “About Me.”
On LinkedIn, he notes that he is the European director of Uncaged and the director of the WorldTeach Association, as well as an associate attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a founding member and board member at Sallux/ECPM Foundation, executive director at Bridge To Europe, a graduate of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute, etc.
An additional piece of information, added at the beginning of October, claims that Beniamin Lup is a “full-time university assistant” at the Law Faculty of Tibiscus University in Timișoara.
In response to our official request, Conf. Dr. Luiza Caraivan, the dean of the Law Faculty, clarified: “1. Mr. Beniamin Lup does not hold an academic degree. 2. Mr. Beniamin Lup is an associate professor, approved by the Faculty Council of the Law and Public Administration Faculty to teach 6 hours per week from a vacant university assistant position.”
Tibiscus Private University signed a collaboration protocol with the WorldTeach Association and the Police Academy in Chișinău on February 20, 2024.
Beniamin Lup is also listed as a PhD student in “victimology” at the “Ștefan cel Mare” Police Academy in Chișinău, at the Faculty of Law, and even co-authored several conferences in the field with the dean, Vitalie Ionașcu, including a conference held by the Criminalists Association of Moldova.
The response we received from the Police Academy specifies that ‘Mr. Beniamin Lup, on November 20, 2023, was enrolled in doctoral studies at the Doctoral School of Criminal Sciences and Public Law at the ‘Ștefan cel Mare’ Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, with the proposed research project titled “Victimological Prevention of Contemporary Human Trafficking in the Republic of Moldova and Romania.” His scientific supervisor is Dr. in Law, Associate Professor Vitalie Ionașcu.’
The relationship with the Police Academy in Chișinău developed in the context of the funding provided by the WorldTeach Association for the renovation, modernization, and technological outfitting of the conference room. The generous amounts of funding have opened doors.
The inauguration took place in April 2024 in the presence of Uncaged CEO Kim Westfall and Murang Pak, former FBI officer and board member of Uncaged.
The strangest occupation that Beniamin Lup claims is listed on LinkedIn on June 15, 2024: Psychosexual Therapist. The post in English reads: “Being a Psychosexual Therapist brings me into a category of under 700 specialists”.
In Photos with Influential People
Beniamin Lup’s claimed affiliation with the Baptist church served not only to attract significant funds from Christians but also to support his political ambitions. He served as an advisor to two members of parliament, Marius Dugulescu (PD-L) and Mircea Lubanovici, as well as to ‘King’ Cioabă for 10 years.”
In 2020 he ran unsuccessfully on the lists of the Alliance for the Rebirth of Romania in the constituency of Galati, a party registered by Mr. Lup in Timisoara. The current president, Peter Costea, does political propaganda for AUR.
People who have known Beniamin Lup for several years shared insights into his strategies for gaining recognition. We are protecting their identities at their request.
‘S.R.M.’: “He would attend conferences where he was vocal and always networked with influential people, taking photos with them. He would charm everyone, then claim he was set to be appointed to official roles, like head of ANITP, or flaunt access badges to parliament.”
“Ciprian”: “People believed he was a very important figure in the government because he has this talent for creating badges that look very real to the untrained eye.”
We can deduce from illustrations and his comments on social media that Mr. Lup had a particular attraction to law enforcement institutions such as the police, prosecution, and penitentiary services.
Unbelievable Numbers
These days, there has been some activity at the Butterfly Center in Zolt. Villagers we are in contact with mentioned seeing the former owner of the guesthouse—now the Butterfly Center—coming from Timișoara. The visit appears to involve checking on the Center’s vehicles, and we will attempt to find out more.
Valentin Malanca informed us that Beniamin Lup purchased a Nissan in the name of Denisa Malanca, now his ex-wife. A thorough inspection at Zolt might reveal similar situations.
The Board of Directors for the two organizations bearing the name WorldTeach, though registered with different unique identification codes, claims to be unaware of its activities. At least, this is what several board members who have never attended a meeting or been presented with financial records told Libertatea.
The Center only received operating permits at the end of 2022 and in 2023, as shown on a list posted on the website beniaminlup.ro. Presshub’s reporting from March 2022 about the “phantom center” for trafficked women proved accurate. Stories of the Butterfly Center’s accomplishments in 2020, 2021, and 2022 appear to be fictional.
The high figures long reported for the ‘rescued’ trafficking victims claimed by Beniamin Lup remain unverified. As we noted in our 2022 article, Investigation: Phantom Center for Recovering Trafficked Women, Beniamin Lup stated in 2019 on Beond TV, a U.S. television network, that he had personally rescued “450 victims” since 2004.
In a 2022 podcast on Vinelife, Kim Westfall, invited to share the story of the Uncaged Association, told host Tony Clark that Beniamin Lup had claimed to have rescued “800 women” from trafficking, a figure he had given her when they first met.
For comparison, the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (ANITP), a government agency, identified 451 victims in 2023: one in two victims is a child, three out of four are women, and three out of five are sexually exploited. Extracting, or ‘rescuing’ trafficked individuals is a challenging operation, even for a government agency.
(Photo sources: Facebook, WorldTeach, and Uncaged websites)
