Dan Costache ("Dinu") Patriciu (Romanian pronunciation: ['dinu pa'trit??u]; 3 August 1950 – 19 August 2014) was a Romanian billionaire businessman and politician.
At the time of his death, Patriciu was the richest man in Romania.
His wealth was based on the Rompetrol company (the second largest oil company in Romania), which he took over from the Romanian state and later sold to Kazakhstan's state-owned KazMunayGas.
Patriciu's business activity was marred by legal troubles, being charged with defrauding the state, money laundering and illegally manipulating markets, but died before he could be sentenced.
However, he successfully withstood the investigations into allegedly corrupt privatization deals.A support of right-libertarian politics, Patriciu was a long-time member of the National Liberal Party.
During the 2009 Romanian presidential election, Patriciu released a video which President Basescu appeared to hit a boy; Traian Basescu sued for libel and won.