Virgin Active’s legal team is now involved in the saga involving a personal trainer who was suspended earlier this week after Daily Maverick asked whether the health club was aware he was on the international police organisation Interpol’s fugitive list because he is wanted in Romania for drug trafficking. According to Romanian police, he faces a 16-year jail term there. Virgin Active says its legal team has contacted authorities about its suspended personal trainer, Stan Stamenov, who Daily Maverick exposed as a fugitive wanted by Romania in connection with drug trafficking.
On Monday, 26 January 2026, Daily Maverick reported how Stamenov was a personal trainer offering his services at the Virgin Active gym in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Constantia, all the while being a fugitive whose full name is Stanislav Stamenov. Nearly three years ago, Netwerk24 reported that he had been a bodyguard for Krasimir Kamenov, who was wanted in the country they were both from, Bulgaria, in connection with the murder of a policeman. Kamenov was murdered in May 2023 along with his wife, Gergana, and two of their employees in his home in Constantia – the suburb where Stamenov offered personal training at the Virgin Active gym.
Stamenov’s photograph and details, under the name Stan Stamenov, had been on a wall inside the gym showing its personal trainers, as well as on a Virgin Active online platform. At the same time, another photograph under the name Stanislav Stamenov was on an International Criminal Police Organization’s (Interpol’s) Red Notice, which is a request to law enforcement worldwide to provisionally arrest an individual. Interpol’s Red Notice for Stamenov said he waswanted by Romania, and this related to “trafficking in drugs”.
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After Daily Maverick sent Virgin Active a query about Stanemov on Monday, it responded by saying he had been suspended with immediate effect while an internal review process was under way. Virgin Active was also trying to confirm whether Stamenov was indeed the same person whom Interpol flagged as wanted by Romania. On Tuesday evening, Virgin Active’s head of customer service, Jacqui Walter, responding to a follow-up query from Daily Maverick, said: “Our standard internal process is currently under way, and our legal team has made contact with the relevant authorities.
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