Edgars Ciniņš, who is accused of theft of confidential documents from his employer and previously put on trial for misappropriation of large amounts of money, almost caused a diplomatic scandal by posing as a high-rank official of Latvia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry not long ago.

This is not the first time when Edgars Ciniņš has attempted to acquire financial benefits by claiming to be an important official.

Pretending to be an advisor to Latvian Foreign Affairs Minister, Edgars Ciniņš gained access to the US Department of State and US Department of Commerce. The motives of the scandalous businessmen for doing so remain unknown. However, it is known that after contacting Latvia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, US security services quickly found out that Edgars Ciniņš is not and has never been Latvian foreign affairs minister’s advisor.

This, understandably enough, caused a scandal that could have seriously impacted Latvia’s reputation. Fortunately, although with great difficulty, Latvian authorities managed to settle this incident.

For self-evident reasons this incident was never reported to the general public. It is entirely possible no one would have found out about it at all if not for Edgars Ciniņš’s formally ex-wife Eva Ciniņa’s ‘wonderful idea’ to share her formally ex-husband’s ‘adventure’ on Facebook. Her entry dated 29 February 2016 states: ‘Edgars Ciniņš in Congress, Department of State, Voice of America! I am proud! Not all Americans can boast having been there!’

This is not the first time Edgars Ciniņš has posed as a high-ranking official in an attempt to ‘settle things’. In 2014, Neatkarīgā Rīta newspaper wrote that while he was an employee of Ventspils United Baltic Bank [later Hansabanka], Edgars Ciniņš attempted perform a short-term deposit worth more than one billion USD in some foreign fund without consulting with the bank’s management. He prepared this deal posing as Ventspils United Baltic Bank’s vice-president.

By sheer accident, the bank’s Council Chairman Ansis Sormulis learned of this transaction and immediately put an end to it. It should be said that in Ventspils United Baltic Bank Edgars Ciniņš was in charge of trade of currency and securities.