Berkeley professor's ex-wife arrested in connection with his murder in Greece
Marketing professor Przemyslaw Jeziorski was fatally shot July 4 in the Agia Paraskevi district of Athens, authorities told Greek media outlet To Vima.
Jeziorski, 43, was shot five times as he was walking to his ex-wife's home to see their children. Authorities arrested his ex-wife and three additional suspects in connection with the shooting, police told the news outlet. The San Francisco Chronicle and Greek news outlets identified the ex-wife as Nadia Michelidaki.
The tenured professor taught economics at the Berkeley Haas School for 13 years and was born in Poland, according to UC Berkeley.
Greece's Hellenic Police announced the arrests on Wednesday. The unidentified suspects were described as two Albanian nationals and a Bulgarian man. Authorities said the suspects drove another man, who was Jeziorski's ex-wife's companion, to the neighborhood and provided the companion with an automatic handgun.
The suspect shot Jeziorski five times and he died at the scene, police said. His ex-wife is a Greek national and the two were in the middle of a difficult custody dispute over their children, Hellenic Police told the news outlet.
Jeziorski was an expert in quantitative marketing, industrial organization and the economics of digital markets, according to UC Berkeley.
'Przemek was one of the most — if not the most — knowledgeable experts on empirical analysis in marketing in the world, so this is a tremendous loss to the field and to Haas,' professor Miguel Villas-Boas said in a statement. 'He was generous with his time, extremely caring about the Haas community, courageous to tackle important problems, full of grace and gentleness, and a loving father.'
He is survived by his mother, brother and two children.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
UC Berkeley professor slaying: Ex-wife accused of plotting killing to remain in custody before trial
A judge in Greece ruled that Konstantina Michelidaki will remain in jail ahead of her trial for allegedly killing her ex-husband, UC Berkeley professor Przemyslaw Jeziorski. Michelidaki is accused of taking part in a plot to kill Jeziorski. Four other men allegedly involved in Jeziorski's killing were also ordered to remain behind bars ahead of trial. Alexandros Pasiatas, Michelidaki's attorney, confirmed the judge's ruling in a text exchange with the Chronicle. Pasiatas previously asserted that Michelidaki had no involvement in orchestrating Jeziorski's death. Michelidaki faces moral accomplice charges. Two Albanian nationals and a Bulgarian national were charged with being accomplices. A fourth man, Christos Dounias, was charged with carrying out the killing. Dounias allegedly confessed to the crime, according to CNN, citing a leaked police report. The Chronicle could not independently verify the contents of that report. A masked gunman shot and killed Jeziorski in Athens on July 4, while he was on his way to pick up his children from Michelidaki's house. Jeziorski traveled to Athens for a custody case over whether he could take his children on vacation. On July 3, he won the right to take his children out of Greece, according to Robert Kowalski, a close friend of Jeziorski. Jeziorski and Michelidaki shared custody of 10-year-old twins who, as of last week, were under the care of the state in Athens, according to Pasiatas. Jeziorski and Michelidaki divorced in 2024, but were embroiled in a child custody and property battle at the time of his death, court records show. Jeziorski sought a restraining order against Michelidaki, saying he feared for his life, records show. Jeziorski alleged that Dounias assaulted him twice in the summer of 2024 in the restraining order petition.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in $1 billion bank fraud detained in Greece
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes was detained Tuesday in Greece, Moldova's national police said. Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019 as he faced a series of corruption charges including allegations of complicity in a scheme that led to $1 billion disappearing from a Moldovan bank in 2014, which at the time was equivalent to about an eighth of Moldova's annual GDP. Plahotniuc has denied any wrongdoing. Moldovan police said in a statement they were informed by Interpol's office in Athens that two Moldovan citizens had been detained, including Plahotniuc, who was placed on Interpol's international wanted list in February. Authorities did not name the other detainee. The Greek police unit tackling organized crime said Interpol was seeking Plahotniuc on suspicion of participating in a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering. Moldova's Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor's Office are in the process of exchanging information to begin seeking extradition of Plahotniuc and the other detainee, a government official told The Associated Press. Plahotniuc, one of Moldova's wealthiest men, fled to the U.S. from Moldova in June 2019 after failing to form a government with his Democratic Party. The U.S. declared him persona non grata in 2020 and his whereabouts were unknown for years. The powerful businessman and politician was added to a U.S. State Department sanctions list in 2022 for alleged corruption. The charges included controlling the country's law enforcement to target political and business rivals and meddling in Moldova's elections. He was added to a U.K. sanctions list in 2022 and barred from entering the country. His assets were frozen in the U.K. and its overseas territories.
Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
ICE arrests of noncriminals spike in Pennsylvania
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions soared in Pennsylvania in June, newly obtained data shows. Why it matters: The jump, which mirrors national trends, came shortly after the Trump administration's decision to hike ICE's arrest quotas. State of play: Noncriminal arrests in Pennsylvania made up an average of 51% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from 27% in early January, per ICE data via UC Berkeley. Last month, ICE made 332 noncriminal arrests in the state, up from 70 in January. The average number of daily arrests of those with charges or convictions also increased in early June, but not to the same degree. Zoom out: Nationwide, people without criminal charges or convictions made up an average of 47% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from about 21% in early May, before the quota increase. Between the lines: The spike in noncriminal ICE arrests nationwide came despite the Trump administration's claimed focus on criminals living in the country illegally. And it happened just after the Trump administration told ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people daily, up from 1,000. Context: UC Berkeley School of Law's Deportation Data Project obtained the agency's data — based on seven-day trailing averages — via Freedom of Information Act requests. Being in the U.S. illegally is a civil, not criminal, violation. Meanwhile, more Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies are cooperating with ICE compared to last month. 25 state agencies have signed onto deals with ICE known as 287(g) agreements as of last week, per federal data — up from 11 in early June. The agreements allow such agencies to carry out immigration enforcement and supplement federal officers, who have limited resources. Plus: Removal orders issued to Pennsylvanians reached at least 869 in June, per the latest data from the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). That's up from 567 in January. Zoom in: ICE arrests and activity in the Philly region are raising concerns and sparking protests.
