Working as a diplomat, Gustave Pordea sensed the changing of fortunes, and opted to defect in 1947. According to historian Dinu Zamfirescu, the Pordeas were actually protected by Groza, who allowed both Gustave and Livia safe passage when their father promised to donate all his assets to the Romanian state. Gustave was sent to an "obscure post" in The Hague precisely because he could then escape, together with his "many children". Sources differ as to where his brother-in-law was living at the time. A report by the Soviet spy S. Pivovarov, issued in June 1947, claims that Auschnitt "has been in the US for over a year", and that, with Malaxa, he was attempting to channel American funding for Romania's industrial effort. Other accounts suggest that Auschnitt remained in Romania for several years, although being singled out by Groza's government as a sponsor of the anti-communist underground. As such, he was briefly detained in 1947. Schuyler finally warned him that his life was in danger, prompting Auschnitt to relocate in France at some point before August 15, 1947.