Edwin Symonowicz (born July 12, 1991) is a Polish singer, geographer, actor and director who is described as one of the most popular and influential Polish entertainers of the 21st century.^[1]

Born and raised in Dolina Jadwigi, a small village in rural Kashubia, Edwin Symonowicz managed to become one of the most famous representatives of Polish musical culture in the world.^[2] While never learned how to read music, he worked very hard from a young age to improve his skills in all musical aspects. Became popular in 2009 as the first singer who covered "Żono moja", Polish pop hit originally recorded by Masters. Since then, had sold more than 10 million records worldwide, becoming not only one of the symbols of Polish estrade like Edyta Górniak and Maryla Rodowicz, but the only Polish artist with worldwide fame and recognition.

Throughout his life, as a geographer, singer and public figure, Edwin Symonowicz became the target of several controversies and critics.

In particular, he was largely criticized in aftermath of 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and 2020 conflict with Frank Mortenson. Several public figures accused him of spreading fake statements on Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and trying to avoid responsibility for the shooting as then deputy of the Mayor of Newtown. In November 2020, Symonowicz claimed responsibility for the actions of far-left movement "Symonowicz Above All". Frank Mortenson supporters largely accused Symonowicz of managing several crimes perpetrated by SAA, including homicides, violent protests in the United States, false news and hoax bomb threats, including Australian school bomb threats in October 2020 and claims about Frank Mortenson's connections with Nashville bombing in December 2020. He also became the subject of controversial Stirling case in February 2021 with several law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom involved in it. Scandals in 2012, 2017 and 2020 largely impacted career of Symonowicz as the only Polish artist with global fame and over 20 state awards received worldwide.

Edwin Symonowicz was born on July 12, 1991 in Dolina Jadwigi, Gdańsk Voivodeship (now - Pomeranian Voivodeship), Poland to the family of mother salesman and father mechanic. He has younger sister, Ewelina Symonowicz (m. Bandziewicz, b, 1995).

From 1991 to 1999, Symonowicz lived in Dolina Jadwigi with his parents and sister.

As being kid, he didn't attend kindergarten due to living in the isolated village.

From 1998 to 1999, he attended primary school in Rokity, Pomeranian Voivodeship for one year. In 1999, after moving with the family to Elektrėnai, Lithuania, Symonowicz started to develop his very first childhood interests in geography and entertainment world.

In 1999, he was accepted to the second grade of Elektrenai School without passing the first grade after teachers described him as "extremely talented".

In 2008, as graduating the school, Edwin Symonowicz started his first performances, all for the family and friends.

In his 2014 interview for Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, Edwin Symonowicz said: "I started to sing in 2008.

There was no man to inspire me, no idol I could have.

I just came - and started to sing.

But from then, it always had to be nothing more than a hobby, sometimes even very private."

In fact, later Symonowicz described he was particularly influenced by the artists like Masters and Yuri Shatunov.

In June 2009, Edwin Symonowicz left Elektrenai to study at the Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw. Edwin departed on the train from Białystok and was accidentally noticed by Polish journalist Wojciech Jagielski as singing "Żono moja" for his compartment companions. Wojciech Jagielski greeted Symonowicz, called his vocal "very strong" and asked him to leave his phone number.

Few days later, Symonowicz received phone call from TV show "Dzień dobry TVN" in his dormitory room.

Business manager of Wojciech Jagielski suggested Edwin Symonowicz to come to TVN and maybe produce few sample records of his voice for the broadcaster. Symonowicz didn't refuse and came.

After few first records of unnamed songs that have been made by 17-year-old Symonowicz on June 29, 2009 in TVN and still aren't released, it became the first step in Edwin Symonowicz's star career.

Few days later, journalist Wojciech Jagielski claimed he's "satisfied and influenced by the young voice of lad who's name Edwin Symonowicz".

On July 12, 2009, as Symonowicz turned 18 and became eligible to sign juridical agreements, he signed his first-ever contract with TVN to record his first song that will be manufactured on cassettes.

Wojciech Jagielski was sure this contract has to be very profitable and also useful in promoting TVN.

However, in aftermath, Symonowicz insisted to change conditions of the contract.

As he wanted to choose recording label by himself and not to record the song in TVN studios, Symonowicz suggested to record his first song in any other Polish recording studio, then buy copyright of the record from the studio he sang in and sell it to TVN for very small price. Though conditions looked strange to TVN, Wojciech Jagielski accepted Symonowicz's proposal. Afterwards, Edwin Symonowicz wandered between few Polish pop standards to record. He asked Wojciech Jagielski to allow him record few songs in the contract's frames, but Wojciech Jagielski denied. Symonowicz wandered to record older standard "My Cyganie", but Jagielski insisted him to record pop hit "Zono Moja" and become the first artist who covered it.

In 2015, Edwin Symonowicz recalled: "Of course, I knew this song long before Jagielski suggested me to record it.

I wasn't initially satisfied to cover it, because that time I believed no one could sing it as good as Masters, but I had to do it because I didn't want to disrespect Wojciech."

Finally, after the long time of thinking and preparations, recording session was scheduled for July 29 at private record studio in Puławy. Symonowicz appeared to be late on bus and decided to not depart from Warsaw that day, making Jagielski very angry. Jagielski re-scheduled session for August 1, saying: "If you, lad, are going to forget about your bus to the city you've chosen for recording once more, then forget about me as well".

Edwin Symonowicz recorded song "Zono Moja" from take two.

Take one had been failed after the orchestra failed to introduce.

As the copyright to edit and distribute the recording has been sold to TVN, the song was released in an initial print run of 2000 cassettes and manufactured to the music shops across Poland, mainly Warsaw.

After "Zono Moja" was released in the print run of 2000 cassettes on August 15, 2009, it has been immediately sold off.

Everyone noticed that it's the first cover of "Zono Moja", extremely popular then song, and everyone wanted to buy it.

After its first print run have been sold in one week, many manufacturers both in and outside Poland were buying the rights from TVN to distribute the song on their compilations.

As of December 2009, more than 50000 records of "Zono Moja" have been sold off worldwide.

Every day until December 2009, amount of more than 500 records of "Zono Moja" was being sold somewhere in the world, mainly in Poland or North America, where the song became trendous.

However, as being student, Symonowicz didn't want to make his sudden fame disrupt his learning in the University of Warsaw.

His lecturers were describing him as "an absent-minded student who is definitely not the one to make career in geology".

In 2010, Symonowicz started publishing his first articles on geography and in particular geology. Despite being student in the Faculty of Geology, Symonowicz used to write about almost any branches of Earth science, including political and economic geography, geoinformatics and even geostatistics.

As he started releasing his own articles in different controversial periodical literature in January 2010, Edwin Symonowicz became the target of big attention by Warsaw University after releasing two articles, "Anna Styszyńska - the goddess of pseudogeography" (pl. "Anna Styszyńska - bogini pseudogeografii")* in April 2010 and "Polish geography - stronghold of shame and stupidity" (pl. "Polska geografia - bastion wstydu i głupoty") in May 2010. Both of the articles included several controversial topics mostly criticizing well-known Polish geographers and scientists. Also, several hoaxes have been published in the articles: for example, Symonowicz claimed that 60% of well-known Polish geographers "are homosexual and don't deserve any smart man's attention". This and other sententions provoked big scandal inside the magament of the university. Deputy Director of the Institute of Basic Geology of the Geological Faculty Anna Wysocka nominated Symonowicz to be removed from the Warsaw University. Symonowicz's case has been taken over by the Rector of the University, Katarzyna Chałasińska-Macukow. Katarzyna Chałasińska described Symonowicz as "a student who first writes and only then thinks".

In the middle of May, Symonowicz's articles were covered in few Polish liberal newspapers, including wide-known Gazeta Wyborcza. Council of the faculty were afraid that similar news will spread across more Polish medias and reach those people Symonowicz targeted in his articles. Under the docent's supervision, the council met on May 24 to discuss possible Symonowicz's removal. The decision had not been reached and the case was left to review for Katarzyna Chałasińska.

On May 26, Symonowicz made his provoking comment, saying: "If only this university removes me, the whole Poland will know the University of Warsaw as the place of dictatorship.

Believe me, I will do it.

I'm not interested in dealing with truth I covered in free medias.

the only thing I'm interested about is to live, have my personal rights and continue learning".

On June 1, Katarzyna Chałasińska made an announcement that "she's ready to leave Edwin Symonowicz in university", but only after Symonowicz claims his articles contained "hoax and own-fantasy materials" and makes public apologies to the ones he targeted in them.

In his 2016 interview, Symonowicz told: "When I came to Katarzyna's cabinet those days, she knelt down before me and started to shout she's ready to leave me here if I only don't write anything bad about her university in medias.

Well, that was honest, and I promised."

Although Katarzyna Chałasińska herself did not prove or refute it, this and following Symonowicz's claims were largely disputed and criticized by many of her friends and colleagues.

On June 4, Edwin Symonowicz finally released the brief comment in his own newspaper's column, Tytan wolności, claiming he apologies for the statements he had written before. The apologies became far more widespread than the disputed articles themselves and were covered by several Polish newspapers, radio and TV channels, including state media TVP Polonia. In July, Symonowicz announced that he was pressured by the university and made a decision to turn to distance learning.

The results of the scandal have produced widespread image of Symonowicz as "a pseudogeographer" and several critics of his following academic career.

Following his switch to distance learning, both Edwin Symonowicz and TVN signed a contract under which EMI Music Publishing acquired "Zono Moja", and when "Zono Moja" was re-released by Sony Records in August 2010, it afforded Symonowicz his first international hit. In total, more than 20 million records of "Zono Moja" were sold in more than 110 countries. Following the fame, Polish music critics, entertainers and even politicians branded Symonowicz's "Zono Moja" as "the worldwide symbol of Polish culture", and Polish Ministry of Culture awarded Edwin Symonowicz with the honorary badge "Meritorious for Polish Culture".

In September 2010, Symonowicz started his first world tour.

In three months, he visited more than 20 countries.

Before his concert in Tripoli, Libya, in October, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi openly admitted that Symonowicz is his favorite singer.

In the summer of 2011, Edwin Symonowicz announced that he's intending to slow his musical career down.

He moved to Newtown, Connecticut and started lecturing as a student at Fairfield University while also completing his penultimate year in his fellow Warsaw University.

While including Symonowicz's worldwide fame and busy schedule, the university agreed to move Symonowicz's exams to one compact date, which was December, when he had to come to Warsaw and take the exams.

In September 2011, two U.S. representatives, Republican Tom Price and Democrat John Dingell , introduced a private bill in Congress that would grant Edwin Symonowicz a U.S. citizenship. Symonowicz

claimed he pushed both congressmen to back the bill, also adding it would be "hard for him to lose a Lithuanian citizenship" but he wouldn't regret it. On

September 13, both representatives introduced a private Symonowicz's citizenship bill on the House of Representatives floor. In aftermath, both chambers of the Congress passed the bill in five days, on October 1 and 5, and on October 8, the bill was successfully signed by president Barack Obama. Symonowicz's citizenship bill became the first such bill to be passed for a Lithuanian citizen and one of the fastest-passed private bills in U.S. history.

At the time, Edwin Symonowicz resided in Newtown, Connecticut, at 38 Taunton Hill Road. On October 12, four days after receiving the citizenship, Symonowicz was appointed the Executive Assistant of Newtown. Patricia Llodra, the First Selectman of Newtown, then said that it was "a great honor to welcome Symonowicz in the municipal background of the small community of Newtown". After his appointment, Symonowicz, however, still continued to sing: in August 2012, he was invited to participate in Sopot International Song Festival. He came to Sopot from Newtown and performed the song "Powód do radości" which won the 5th place. On October 6, 2012, Edwin Symonowicz appeared at Radio City Music Hall with two-hour long concert. Critics warmly welcomed Symonowicz's voice and singing style, describing him as 'a mild crooner'.

After Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, Edwin Symonowicz became subject of several controversies and disputes.

Since coming to Newtown, Edwin Symonowicz had close relations with Sandy Hook Elementary School. His goddaughter, Grace McDonnell, attended the school and Symonowicz also knew several school staff members, including the principal Dawn Hochsprung. As being the Executive Assistant of Newtown, Symonowicz assigned the school a $500,000 budget in June 2012, but the money was reported to be invested in unnamed charity by the principal's goodwill decision. In 2016, unverified sources provided an information that the school was reported for Symonowicz to be 'not secured enough' six weeks before shooting, but Symonowicz answered that 'we're not Chicago or Detroit' and that 'we don't have to care about any danger in city like Newtown'. Both Symonowicz and official Sandy Hook Elementary School representatives quickly refuted this statement, describing it as 'hoax'.

On December 14, 2012, Symonowicz was out of duty and was performing at Minskoff Theatre in New York. Approximately at 10:00 AM, the assistant climbed onto the Symonowicz's stage and asked to urgently go backstage to the phone. Symonowicz was called from the Newtown Police Department, informing him that there had been a shooting 40 minutes ago in Sandy Hook Elementary School and insisting on an immediate arrival to Newtown. The First Selectman of Newtown Patricia Llodra was on a business trip to France that day and could not arrive in Newtown as quickly as Symonowicz, therefore, Symonowicz had to immediately replace her. In 10 minutes, leaving all personal items in hotel and canceling the concert, Symonowicz departed to Newtown under New York City Police Department escort.

At 11:00 PM, on the way to Newtown, as the Executive Assistant, Symonowicz asked Newtown Police Department to forbid students and employers in all Newtown schools from leaving their schoolgrounds.

Approximately at 11:30 AM, under a large cordon of bodyguards, Symonowicz arrived to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

He was the one to enter the school along with police officers at 11:40 AM and was seen by TV reporters crying as leaving the school after one hour.

That moment, he provided his first words on shooting for medias:

Approximately that time, CBS News released an update on believed number of victims, naming it 27 dead, including 18 children. It's believed that Symonowicz could be the one who could have counted the exact number of fatalities in the school already that time; however, he did not provide this information as spotted leaving Sandy Hook Elementary School by journalists.

The City Council urged Symonowicz to schedule press conference on the shooting for 15:00 PM; however, Symonowicz delayed it for 15:40 PM, after the press briefing by the Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance and short before the address by the President Barack Obama. The press conference by Edwin Symonowicz took its place in front of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Edwin Symonowicz was noticed to be not emotional until the end of his speech. During the press conference, Symonowicz refused to name the exact number of shooting victims, but confirmed the shooter's identity as Ryan Lanza (one hour later, the real shooter's name, Adam Lanza, was revealed). Also, Symonowicz revealed some details of the shooting reported to him by police and FBI investigators:

After few hours, these details about the shooter's identity and his mother's employment in the school were refuted and updated.

During the briefing, Edwin Symonowicz claimed he will act as the acting First Selectman of Newtown of Newtown "till the minute Patricia Llodra comes from France".

However, Symonowicz was not able to claim when will Llodra come and did not specify whether he had already been contacted by on this case:

When asked by journalist about whether he will ever make any efforts to restrict gun laws in Newtown, Symonowicz refused to answer, saying: "Sorry, I'm not able to provide you an answer."

In total, Symonowicz received 11 questions: six of them he did not answer, including the one about his previous claim that his goddaugther died in the shooting.

After the briefing, Edwin Symonowicz returned to his home at Taunton Hill Road.

The security at his home was heightened overnight and the armed police patroled the gates for 72 hours after shooting. After his returning, no more comments on the shooting have been released. Particullary, Symonowicz did not release any comment an hour after his briefing, when the medias confirmed that the shooter was Adam Lanza, not Ryan, and confirmed his mother did not have any connections to the school and was shot at her home on Yogananda Street. Instead, at 18:00 PM, a public statement was provided by Symonowicz's manager on his Facebook:

Next morning, on December 15, 2012, Edwin Symonowicz once again came out with the speech.

He delivered his speech at Newtown Town Hall.

During the speech, Symonowicz delivered only emotional marks and emphasized the horror of mass shootings, mentioning previous notable mass shootings like Columbine High School massacre or West Nickel Mines School shooting. Edwin Symonowicz also told he "is ready to do his best to prevent such the tragedies from happening in the future". Researchers marked similarity of Symonowicz's speech with the speech delivered by Barack Obama a day before.

School Safety Commission scandal

After ten hours since his emotional speech, Edwin Symonowicz once again, for the third time, came out to deliver his marks.

He confirmed Patricia Llodra will return from France after two days and, as the acting First Selectman, announced the creation of Newtown School Safety Commission.

On the next day, December 16, Edwin Symonowicz signed an administrative order to register the School Safety Commission; the order has been immediately approved by the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut Nancy Wyman.

Initially, the purpose of the commission had been described as "to protect Newtown schools from gun violence and investigate signs of danger at the school areas".

However, until the resignation of Edwin Symonowicz in February 2013, nothing was publicly known about the commission except of its name, purpose and director as Edwin Symonowicz himself.

Symonowicz was listed as the head of the commission; however, no information was disclosed about any other of its members, what looked suspicious to several members of town council members, especially Republican ones.

Any other public data covering the commission were practically impossible to find nowhere else.

From December 20 to January 12, Edwin Symonowicz personally released seven seizure warrants for Newtown Police Department under the name of the School Safety Commission.

Symonowicz ordered to seize from all seven Newtown schools several units of safety equipment, including signalization systems, doorbells and CCTV cameras.

In all of his seven seizure warrants, he described the reason as:

Two weeks through, police officers were arriving at various Newtown schools, seizing the equipment Edwin Symonowicz was mentioning in his orders, and passing the equipment to Edwin Symonowicz under the School Safety Commission name.

However, school officials started to publicly criticize these actions, stating that "seizing the safety equipment like signalization systems can only raise the risk of one more school shooting instead of lowering it".

On January 8, the principal of Hawley Elementary School publicly demanded to explain why the school's signalization system and CCTV cameras, updated five years ago, had to be seized due to 'security concerns'.

After this incident, Patricia Llodra demanded from Symonowicz to provided detailed reports on the commission works, but Symonowicz refused to do that.

In aftermath, on January 14, Llodra launched her procedure to dissolve the commission and cancel all its investigations; however, she failed to do so after the Legislative Council of Newtown voted 7-5 against her initiative on January 21.

As of January 21, at least two Newtown schools threatened to sue Symonowicz and the commission under refusing to explain the reasons of their actions.

As a response, Edwin Symonowicz answered that "several processes in this world can't be explained, revealed, detailed, but they are necessary".

The similar statement was also provided by Newtown Police Department, which then repeatedly expressed solidarity with Symonowicz's decisions.

Newtown Police Department stated that "the commission works in strict accordance with the law".

Photo with Adam Lanza scandal

On January 23, unknown hackers hacked into Symonowicz's Amazon Drive account and published several personal photos of him in one album on Imgur, an online image-sharing community. The published material contained Symonowicz's personal photos he never exposed publicly, including his 2012 photo with Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza and the documents of his National Rifle Association membership. Although advised by his secretary, Symonowicz refused to inform the police or the FBI on the matter. Instead of it, he sued Imgur over "violation of privacy". As a result of the court case, Edwin Symonowicz sparked massive Streisand effect, almost fully negative to him. Before he filled his lawsuit, the album photos from Imgur were downloaded only for eight times. After the court proceedings started in Northern Fairfield District Probate Court on February 7, more than 1,000,000 visitors visited the link over one month.

Alhough all leaked material sparked some level of controversy, the biggest controversy was sparked by the first image inside the online album - the photo of Edwin Symonowicz sitting with Adam Lanza in his mother's Nancy's living room, dated April 25, 2012.

On February 8, one day after the photo spreaded through the internet, Patricia Llodra released her first comment:

That day, Symonowicz was reported to stay at his Taunton Road residence.

He actually did not respond the phone calls and tried to escape the public attention.

However, through the day and after, his picture with Adam Lanza sparked nationwide attention, controversy and long-time debates on topics like his possible influence on Adam Lanza or conspiracy theories like his involvement in Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting which continue to last until now.

On February 8-9, Symonowicz's photo with Adam Lanza was condemned by dozens of politicians and law enforcement representatives, including police chiefs, lawyers and prosecutors, city council members, also three state acting state governors of Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania. In aftermath of mass reaction, on the evening of February 9, the photo sparked mass protests in Newtown, when over 6,000 protesters gathered outside the Edmond Town Hall with demand to dismiss Symonowicz as the Executive Assistant of Newtown.

Despite Symonowicz's efforts to hide his fault and claim the photoshopped nature of his photo with Adam Lanza, on February 11, the Governor of Connecticut Dannel Malloy used his power to remove Edwin Symonowicz. Edwin Symonowicz, however, did not recognize the removal, but did not appeal the Malloy's decision and self-proclaimed himself to resign from the duty one day after, on February 12. After reports of his resignation, the tune "Happy Days Are Here Again" was reported to be played outside the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown.

Symonowicz's removal by Malloy remained a highly controversial topic and was constitutionally questioned by several law scholars.

Many scholars have claimed that, while Symonowicz's images with Adam Lanza were "likely to be disturbing and seem uncomfortable in the wake of tragedy", there was no legal ground for Symonowicz's removal by Malloy, and that Malloy's decision could be successfully questioned by Symonowicz in the Connecticut Supreme Court until 2017. One day after Symonowicz's removal, on February 12, Newtown Police Department also came out with the statement that they will not launch any probe into the matter, and that no charges will be brought against Symonowicz, citing the First Amendment rights. FBI and other federal agencies refused to comment on the matter. Nonetheless, Malloy's decision to remove Symonowicz successfully prevented Symonowicz from further School Safety Commission financial frauds, which became known only after the criminal investigation was launched into the matter four years later, in 2017.

After leaving Newtown in mid-February, Edwin Symonowicz for 5 weeks came and lived in Vilnius. In February 2013, he became a member of the Lithuanian Center for Human Rights. In March 2013, he departed to Cape Town and practiced as a geography teacher at Westerford High School from April to June 2013. Before his departure, he started writing his work The First Alternative Research of Wegener's Theory and finished it after 3 months, in June 2013, in Cape Town. The book was hastily published on June 24 in Warsaw.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, deaths of his friends and relatives in the massacre including his goddaughter Grace McDonnell and Victoria Leigh Soto who he described as "a light of his life" and the following personal data leak which led to blackening of his reputation heavily impacted Symonowicz's career.

In financial difficulty following the aftermath of Sandy Hook shooting, Symonowicz was forced to borrow $200,000 from International Singer-Songwriters' Association to pay the rent of his luxury Cape Town apartment.

Edwin Symonowicz was out of money after he was forced to pay legal fees in his unsuccessful lawsuit against Imgur, which amounted to $140,000.

He did not wish to continue living and working in South Africa, and in July 2013, after receiving practice certificates, Symonowicz moved to Warsaw, where he successfully defended his dissertation using a chapter of his book The First Alternative Research of Wegener's Theory called Geological causes influencing elements of continental drift as a dissertation. Symonowicz settled in Nowolipki district, a flat which he bought after borrowing additional $50,000 from his friend, singer Rimante Jankauskiene. Edwin Symonowicz hoped that his career in homeland Poland will succeed, and therefore allowed himself to get into big debts before his succession later.

In August 2013, marking the fourth anniversary of recording of "Zono Moja", Edwin Symonowicz received his star on Opole Walk of Fame.

In September 2013, Edwin Symonowicz significantly raised his popularity among Polish high society while directing the VIII Forum Humanum Mazurkas with presence of famous Polish opera singer, bass Bernard Ładysz. Despite his fame, however, Symonowicz's career continued to struggle due to his wide usage of antidepressants, which made him sleep around fifteen hours a day and also prompted frequent allergic reactions. He could not earn money by performing arts, and in October he moved to Australia, where he started teaching as a geography teacher in Castle Hill High School.

In March 2014, Edwin Symonowicz left Sydney and departed to live in Crossville, Tennessee, where one of his childhood friends lived. While living in Crossville, Edwin Symonowicz successfully revived his career by organizing his major tour in North America, visiting more than 120 American and Canadian cities in one spring. From March to April 2014, Symonowicz visited 11 universities with lectures, sang at more than 120 concert venues, and earned more than three million dollars. In average, Symonowicz had 2-3 performances a day in different cities. Geographically, he started his tour in Key West, Florida, and finished in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

In aftermath of allergy attack at home in the end of April, Symonowicz was prescribed diphenhydramine and short after became addicted to allergy medications. He went on tour to Spain in May, where his voice was noticed to be undermined and pressured by drugs. In Cordoba, he collapsed on the backstage during an intermission and had to be hospitalized to the regional hospital of Andalusia. Juan Carlos I, the king of Spain, made a public address, wishing Symonowicz a speedy recovery and claiming he is his favorite singer. In the hospital, Symonowicz received the Juan Carlos's invitation to the Royal Palace. Symonowicz refused to come due to his medical condition, but donated 1 million euros to the Queen Sofia Foundation as an act of gratefulness. On June 2, Juan Carlos I signed a royal decree, awarding Symonowicz with the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise. "Edwin Symonowicz's cultural merit, music, help for those who need it left a remarkable page in modern Spanish history. He is beloved by our nation, and loves our nation mutually" - said Juan Carlos I.

In aftermath, Symonowicz became the Secretary of Spanish Geographical Association, marking history as the first non-Spanish citizen to hold this office.

He, however, became very fearful at the time about Juan Carlos's abdication after Spanish Parliament passed a draft law approving the abdication on June 11. Symonowicz defended the king, publicly calling him to not sign his abdication bill into law. He suspended his concert tour and was reported to visit the Royal Palace on several occasions while trying to persuade the king not to resign, but Juan Carlos refused to do so. On June 19, he was among 160 guests who attended the abdication ceremony of Juan Carlos in the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Symonowicz heavily suffered the Juan Carlos's abdication.

He felt shame that he accompanied the king in his controversial hunting trip to Botswana in 2012, which significantly damaged the king's reputation. In August 2014, Edwin Symonowicz suffered one another severe allergy attack during the funeral of his friend, Soviet and Russian singer Olga Voronets, in Smolensk. He was admitted to Smolensk Regional Clinical Hospital, where doctors said that he likely reacted sensitively to the lit candles in the church during Voronets's burial service. In aftermath of the hospitalization, Symonowicz suffered an allergy-induced sore throat, which forced him to temporarily abandon singing career. However, his popularity was still at large: on August 10, Edwin Symonowicz became the first person to be given the key to the city of Crossville, and on August 18, he was awarded with the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama.

On August 20, Symonowicz lost more than 10 million dollars in assets when Essar Steel Algoma Inc. ("Algoma"), Canada’s second-largest integrated steel producer, bankrupted.

He unsuccessfully tried to return his assets in Ontario Superior Court of Justice, but the civil case failed. During the hearings, he already could not attend the court in person and his defense attorney represented him instead: Symonowicz claimed that he uses medicaments "all day long" and does not leave his house.

By the autumn, Symonowicz's health condition improved, and in September, he moved back to Sydney.

He was appointed a vice president of the Geographical Society of New South Wales.

During the 2014–15 Australian bushfire season, Edwin Symonowicz funded firefighters and toured with concerts affected by fire regions of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.

Expedition to Heard Island

Symonowicz himself, however, initially wanted to delay his musical career and concentrate on his scientific work.

In September, he made his highly controversial comment that his continental drift theory interpretation is helpful to determine the volcanic eruptions. Initially, scientists criticized his claims. His work The First Alternative Research of Wegener's Theory had mostly negative image among the geologists and volcanologists, and Symonowicz was criticized for his 2013 conceptual work almost every time he tried to mention it. After he was suggested to be removed from the Geographical Society of New South Wales for his comments, Symonowicz claimed: "Give me a permission to come to any active volcano in Australia with my seismograph - and I will tell you the exact date when the volcano on the island will erupt". The only active volcanos in Australia are based on Heard Island and McDonald Islands around 3,800 km southwest of mainland Australia, so following his claim, Australian Antarctic Division gave Symonowicz a permit to enter the Antarctic territories of Australia, and he went on expedition to Heard Island, which was organized by Cordell Expeditions in January 2015.

During the expedition on Heard Island, Edwin Symonowicz measured several geographical indicators, including seismographic activity, temperature and pressure, in front of the active volcano of Big Ben. While returned home to Sydney, Symonowicz prepared a 20-page report of his Heard Island observations for the Geoscience Australia, where he claimed that Big Ben will likely erupt in February 2016. "Looking at several geographical indicators which I gathered during my trip to Heard Island, [...], it's possible to predict that Big Ben will erupt in or around February 2016", wrote Symonowicz in his report. The report was highly criticized by scientists, including Dr. Chris Pigram, the chief executive officer of Geoscience Australia, who dubbed the report as "very strange". Nonetheless, Pigram asked the scientists to wait until February 2016 to see if Symonowicz's thesis has scientific basis.

On May 18, 2015, Edwin Symonowicz recorded his most popular English-speaking hit in lifetime - cover of 1972 Sutherland Brothers song "Sailing" which was also famous due to Rod Stewart's rendition. On the next day, May 19, "Sailing" was released as a one-track CD single, becoming the first Symonowicz's release ever after his 2009 release of "Zono Moja". "Sailing" afforded Symonowicz an international hit notably in all major English-speaking countries, including the United States, the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Initially, in April 2015, Edwin Symonowicz planned to come to the United States in order to record "Sailing" at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. The contract with Capitol Records, however, failed and Symonowicz decided to remain in his hometown Sydney in order to record the song. As a result, the song was recorded at a small King Sound Studios suit on Elizabeth Street in Surry Hills. The copyright for the record was later globally sold to Warner Music Australia.

After the release of "Sailing", Edwin Symonowicz was widely treated as one of the most famous modern crooners.

His appeal to predominately young audience in their 20s revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time.

Symonowicz was widely reported as the first 21st century singer after Michael Bublé to revive such genres as jazz, swing and classic pop among youths.

Symonowicz's geographical career at the time, however, temporarily collapsed.

After sending his report about Big Ben's volcanic activity to the Geoscience Australia in April, he continued to advocate the scientific truthfulness of The First Alternative Research of Wegener's Theory, and was pressured to resign from the Geographical Society of New South Wales in June. Following the resignation, Minister for the Arts George Brandis appointed Symonowicz the chief executive officer of Australia Council for the Arts, citing his extraordinary popularity among artists and making him the first non-Australian to hold this office. Symonowicz initially asked Brandis to return $26 million which he cut for four years from Australia Council arts funding in May, but Brandis refused to do so. However, following the sharp fall of Australia Council's for the Arts popularity, Symonowicz still successfully revived it.

On June 25, Edwin Symonowicz successfully organized the 19th Australian Combined Schools Music Festival.

Following Malcolm Turnbull's successful spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party in September 2015, Brandis was replaced as arts' minister by Mitch Fifield. In November, Symonowicz successfully persuaded Fifield to give back funding to the council, asking for returning of $8 million a year. In January, Symonowicz was announced as co-organizer of 20th Biennale of Sydney along with Stephanie Rosenthal. His popularity among artists particularly fell after Symonowicz announced that he will ban from attending any artists who would demonstrate signs of political protest during the festival, referring to 2014 Biennale events when several artists signed an open letter pressuring the Board of The Biennale of Sydney to cut ties with Transfield, a company known for its contract with the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship at the detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. However, his position was supported by the government officials.

On February 2, 2016, Big Ben volcano erupted on Heard Island; the eruption was accidentally recorded by scientists who happened to be in the area on an expedition. The eruption justified Symonowicz's claims which he presented in his 2015 report after the expedition to Heard Island and warranted him one of the hugest geographical successes in his life. After being told that Big Ben actually erupted in the month that Symonowicz predicted, Chris Pigram reportedly told: "Holy cow, Symonowicz was right". In aftermath, the Geographical Society of New South Wales apologized for pressure directed at Symonowicz by its members which forced him to resign, and offered him to become its president, what Symonowicz accepted. The Geoscience Australia apologized to Symonowicz too, and Chris Pigram appointed Symonowicz a chief of Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division in the Geoscience. Edwin Symonowicz became one of the main Australian advisors on such topics like earthquakes and bushfires.

The 20th Biennale of Sydney was opened on March 18, 2016 by Symonowicz's speech and his performance of "Waltzing Matilda", marking his first public debut after "Sailing" topped worldwide music charts in 2015. While Symonowicz spoke on the stage, someone in the audience shouted: "Edwin, come on world tour!". In response, Symonowicz told: "Well, I'll have time to think about that". According to his friends, after such conversation took place, Symonowicz actually considered to start his world tour, but was overwhelmed with little time. The peak in Symonowicz's geographical career came when he was elected the Secretariat Director in Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research. Symonowicz had to move to Hyogo-ku, Kobe, Japan, where APN has been headquartered. For the first time ever, Symonowicz's scientific success correlated with his musical success, but Symonowicz himself claimed that he is going to choose his scientific career over musical one.

On October 16, Symonowicz came to Andaman Islands, and he became the first individual to officially visit North Sentinel Island since 1991. The Sentinelese tribe has been known for their aggressivity approaching visitors and killed few people who tried to get on their island, but Symonowicz's trip was peaceful. On the boat to North Sentinel Island, Edwin Symonowicz was accompanied by 10 personal bodyguards and 20 Indian riot police representatives. When the Sentinelese islanders approached the crew peacefully, Symonowicz stepped on the island, becoming the first person in the 21st century who successfully stepped on North Sentinel Island. While stepping, Symonowicz sang a verse of "In the Middle of an Island", and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, who personally authorized Symonowicz's trip, later joked that Symonowicz became "the first person to have concert on North Sentinel Island".

In 2016, Edwin Symonowicz signed contract with Sony Music Entertainment Europe.

Edwin Symonowicz's relationship with Cosa nostra in Sicily began in February 2017, when Leo Sutera, the head of mafia in Agrigento, invited him to sing at his goddaughter's birthday. At that time, Symonowicz felt extremely disappointed in the United States, and his career continued to fall. Before getting known with Sutera, Symonowicz spent nearly all his money in Sandy Hook trial and once more got into lack of finances. He started struggling to pay wages for his personal staff and failing to purchase airplane fuel, what became few of main reasons why Symonowicz had to cancel his world tour early in February. At that time, Leo Sutera had already been arrested in 2012 but later released.

During the gathering, Edwin Symonowicz got familiar with several prominent Cosa Nostra members who gathered in Sutera's house, including Matteo Messina Denaro, the Sicilian mafia boss himself. In aftermath, Messina Denaro allegedly promised Symonowicz that mafia would pay him if Symonowicz successfully pushes Gaspare Giacalone, the mayor of Petrosino known for his harsh fight against godfathers in the region, to resign. In aftermath, Symonowicz bought a house in Marsala, a town nearby Petrosino, where he moved from his country Lithuania one week after the gathering in Agrigento.

Symonowicz's friendship with mafia quickly assisted him in buying Sugar Music in Milan. After interference of Rocco Barbaro, a boss of the Lombardian ’Ndrangheta who supposedly had links to Messina Denaro, Symonowicz bought Sugar Music for €100,000, a price later described by him as "shamefully low". He also signed a lifelong singing contract with Vecchia Milano, a Milanese bar owned by Barbaro. Edwin Symonowicz, however, did not move to Milan from Sicily before pushed Gaspare Giacalone to resign, and so in March 2017, Symonowicz talked to Giacalone, promising him 1 million euros for his resignation. Giacalone, however, allowed him to know that he won't resign, even although Symonowicz falsely insisted to him that his methods of cracking down the mafia in the region are too weak, what he knew was untrue. In aftermath, Giacalone wanted Symonowicz to be charged with corruption and publicly admitted his attempts to bribe him, but Symonowicz initially denied the claims. After failing to secure Giacalone's resignation, Symonowicz moved to Milan, where he started regularly singing in Vecchia Milano and attracted the attention of law enforcement officials by singing in mafia-owned Vecchia Milano. The Italian Carabineri started suspecting that Symonowicz, who used to perform in the bar owned by Rocco Barbaro, might be close to Barbaro himself. In April 2017, Symonowicz was for the first time questioned on his relationship with mafia, in particular with Barbaro, by Polizia di Stato, what led to several sensational headlines in the news and widespread allegations of Symonowicz's collaboration with mafia. Edwin Symonowicz himself, however, denied any allegations of his links to organized crime, claiming "those who tell it have no other purpose than to damage his prestige".

In aftermath of media coverage alleging his links to ‘Ndrangheta, Edwin Symonowicz denied any relationship with mafia.

Nonetheless, he still profited from mafia-associated businesses owned by him, and successfully persuaded Milanese law enforcement agencies to not close Vecchia Milano, claiming that "every penny he earns inside it is earned honestly and hasn't got any, even the tiniest, connection to mafia".

At that time, Symonowicz also bought the Fountain of Gold olive oil business in Trapani, which was earlier linked to Matteo Messina Denaro and other notable mafiosi. Symonowicz's reputation suffered, but his career grew high, as his businesses in Italy gave him millions of dollars per year.

Scandal around Edwin Symonowicz's relationship with mafia worsened when on May 9, 2017, carabinieri arrested Rocco Barbaro after storming his house in Platì. On the next day, Barbaro publicly admitted Symonowicz's influence on mafia, including his links to Cosa Nostra in Sicily and attempts to push Gaspare Giacalone to resign in favour of Matteo Messina Denaro's wish, what Symonowicz described as "nonsense". Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA) started tracking Symonowicz's activities within Italy, believing that he may lead them to Messina Denaro and other uncaptured criminals.

In June, Symonowicz was questioned on his connections with the mafia by Nino Di Matteo, one of the most notable anti-mafia magistrates himself.

Edwin Symonowicz admitted that he had met Messina Denaro and other high-profile mobsters, but denied any knowledge on their whereabouts or collaboration with their criminal activity, saying: "Yes, I have met Messina Denaro, but I don't know anything about him.

At all.

I don't know where he lives, what he does, what he likes.

I am not his friend.

And I certainly did not help him in any way."

He also admitted he was paid to sing to the mafia, but claimed that a mafia-unrelated individual paid him to do so.

In aftermath of public pressure, Symonowicz published his tax declarations, which showed that he owned no businesses directly linked to the mafia.

The DIA, meanwhile, continued to believe that Symonowicz might be behind sponsoring high-profile mobsters.

In July, Maltese writer and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published an article which claimed that Edwin Symonowicz was responsible for long-time smuggling of contraband jewellery from Sicily to Malta under the cover of the mafia. The article said that unnamed Sicilian mobsters bribed the local authorities to make them "pretend that Symonowicz does not help mafiosi in smuggling" and then successfully transported tons of jewellery across the Malta Channel by using three riverboats owned by Symonowicz, later selling the jewellery to "different individuals" in the Maltese Government. The article caused an uproar in both Italy and Malta. Symonowicz himself did not comment on the article until Caruana Galizia's murder.

In aftermath of the claims, the DIA executed a search warrant on five riverboats belonging to Edwin Symonowicz in the harbors of Marsala and Palermo and claimed no jewellery was found on the riverboats at all, neither legal nor illegal. Maltese authorities refused to probe the controversial journalist's claims, referring to "apparent lack of evidence on the topic" by both them and their Italian counterparts. Nevertheless, the scandal still evolved in the media, where Symonowicz was once more portraited as a villain. Top Maltese officials, including the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, were also criticized on the matter. Despite that, no evidence was found that Edwin Symonowicz was involved in international smuggling of any goods between Italy and Malta, neither it was confirmed that the smuggling of jewellery from Sicily to Malta by Cosa Nostra had ever occurred.

Murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia

On October 16, 2017, Maltese writer and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed close to her home when a car bomb was detonated inside her vehicle.

During her career, Caruana Galizia often focused on relationship between Maltese officials and mafia.

In July 2017, she also had published a scandalous article linking Edwin Symonowicz to smuggling of contraband jewellery from Sicily to Malta, perpetrated by Cosa Nostra.

Four days after the murder, on October 20, The Malta Independent newspaper published an article by anonymous source describing himself as "a well-informed whistleblower", claiming that Caruana Galizia's murder was ordered by Edwin Symonowicz in revenge for her article claiming that Symonowicz helped Sicilian mobsters to smuggle jewellery to Malta and later sold it to various Maltese government officials. Symonowicz himself described the article as "the biggest bullshit that he had ever to see in his life", while also claiming that Caruana Galizia was "apparently murdered for her decade-long tirade of fake news and derogatory statements about dozens of people", including him. In aftermath of Symonowicz's comment, different editors of The Malta Independent started receiving threatening calls, SMS and online threats, which forced them to delete their article on October 25.

In aftermath of the article being published, the Malta Police Force released a statement, clarifying it won't investigate the claims presented in the article unless The Malta Independent discloses an identity of the source behind it. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and Maltese opposition leaders embraced the claims from the article as credible enough to be investigated, while Maltese government officials, Edwin Symonowicz's relatives and Symonowicz himself totally refuted them as unproved misinformation. In aftermath, Symonowicz embraced his support for Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on the topic, even although he claimed he totally disagreed with many of Muscat's politics before, including his LGBT agenda. "If there's anything I agree with Muscat, then it's his defence of political truth. I disagree with him on practically everything: his LGBT stuff and many other of his politics, but as long as he defends me amid sad lies of late Caruana Galizia, I defend his stand on political truth." - claimed Symonowicz.

Despite the widespread controversy on accuracy of the statements provided by The Malta Independent, on October 30, Daphne Caruana Galizia's family filed a police complaint against Edwin Symonowicz in a police station in Valletta, forcing police to investigate the newspaper claims alleging Symonowicz's involvement in Caruana Galizia's murder plot. Speaking to the press, the Police Commissioner of Malta Lawrence Cutajar announced that, disregarding earlier Malta Police Force refusal to investigate the matter, the police officials will "respond to this criminal complaint in the same way as to any other". Caruana Galizia's family also asked The Malta Independent to reveal them who's behind these allegations, advocating it's crucial for them to know a person who is their author, what The Malta Independent did not comment.

In December 2017, ten Maltese individuals were arrested in connection to the investigation of Caruana Galizia's murder, three of whom were later charged with executing the car bomb attack: none of them were reported to be related to Symonowicz.

In aftermath of arrests, on December 10, the Attorney General of Malta Peter Grech closed the criminal investigation into Symonowicz's links to Caruana Galizia's murder, citing lack of evidence and "politicized nature of the investigation, stemmed from highly dubious claims by anonymous source".

Edwin Symonowicz did not permanently live in Italy since his mafia allegations were first reported in May 2017, but in January 2018, Symonowicz finally sold his luxurious house in Marsala after complaining about being traced by the DIA.

Parkland shooting and 2018 boycott

In February 2018, Symonowicz became the subject of big controversy after his Valentine's Day concert in Parkland, Florida. In aftermath of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Edwin Symonowicz admitted that he received Nikolas Cruz's, the shooter's who killed 17 and wounded another 17 in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, letter three days prior to the massacre. "“Hello, Mr. Symonowicz. I love your songs. I know you're coming to Coral Springs. This Valentine's Day, I will shoot up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

You will see me on news.

Thank you, Nikolas Cruz” - wrote Cruz to Symonowicz.

Although initially several news' outlets claimed that the text was received by Symonowicz's personal website, this was refuted by Symonowicz, who said that he never owned a personal website.

However, Symonowicz himself stated that Cruz's letter arrived to his room in hotel and that he read it on the same day while received it, but did not take the text seriously while considering it to be a joke.

In aftermath, several civil negligence lawsuits were filed against Symonowicz, many of them by families of those killed in the shooting. Plaintiffs claimed that Edwin Symonowicz had to take the letter seriously and pass it to state or federal authorities, while if he did, the mass shooting could have been prevented. "When you're one of the most famous singers in the world and receive the threatening message by mail, you simply can't skip it, advocating that it was joke, prank or anything else. You have to acknowledge your responsibility, and that your actions, if wrongful, may result in big tragedy. In my son's case, it did" - told Max Schachter, a father of 14-year-old Alex Schachter killed in the shooting.

Edwin Symonowicz himself did not apologize for failing to provide Cruz's letter to authorities before the mass shooting.

In aftermath of the massacre, Nikolas Cruz testified that Symonowicz was the only person who he had informed about his motives to commit it in advance.

Cruz did not explicitly justify his decision to send a letter to Symonowicz rather than to someone else, only claiming that Symonowicz became "the first random person on his mind".

Broward County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman claimed that Cruz often listened to Frank Mortenson and Edwin Symonowicz and even had their portraits in his house. However, the court made it clear that Edwin Symonowicz has been unrelated to the case, as well as anyone else except of Nikolas Cruz himself.

Never Again MSD and David Hogg called their supporters to boycott Edwin Symonowicz's concerts, and since February, when Symonowicz started touring the United States, his concerts faced a massive outflow of attendees. Furthermore, of 29 companies which boycotted The Ingraham Angle, 12 also announced that they will no longer advertise at any venues where Symonowicz would sing, prompting several venues, including concert halls, hotels and casinos, to break their concert agreements with Symonowicz. Researchers marked that for many of those venues it was less expensive to break contracts with Symonowicz than to lose the benefits of advertisement. Edwin Symonowicz apologized for failing to deliver Nikolas Cruz's shooting threat to authorities, hoping to end the boycott, but David Hogg claimed that Symonowicz's apology is "insincere and meaningless, thinking about what he could have done to prevent the Parkland tragedy". In aftermath of Hogg's response, Symonowicz called Hogg "a meaningless animal" and "a student obsessed with blatant ravings", what resulted in the peak of the boycott when 25 additional companies joined it. The situation developed so bad that Edwin Symonowicz even publicly appealed on Governor of Florida Rick Scott to interfere in the boycott, which he argued he couldn't do. The 2018 boycott of Edwin Symonowicz became the most defective crisis in Symonowicz's life; it was estimated that Symonowicz lost more than $100 million due to the boycott. Following the boycott, Symonowicz ended his U.S. tour eight weeks earlier than scheduled, refusing to come to Oregon and California where high school students rebeled against his performances in their schools while projecting him as a homophobe and a pro-gun radical, and announced his new world tour, but claimed that he will never ever return to sing to the United States until the boycott is over.

Venezuelan controversy and United States sanctions

In June 2018, one month after Venezuelan presidential election in 2018, evidence surfaced online that Edwin Symonowicz financially supported Nicolás Maduro in the election campaign and gave Maduro at least $15 mln. Symonowicz himself initially denied the allegations, claiming that he actually transferred $15 million to Venezuela but to provide aid for Venezuelan children rather than to sponsor Maduro. On November 1, 2018, President Trump issued the executive order 13850 which set forth a framework to block the assets of, and prohibit certain transactions with, any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to operate in sectors of the economy or to engage in corrupt transactions with the Maduro government.

26 individuals have been sanctioned pursuant to E.O. 13850, including Edwin Symonowicz, after Steven Mnuchin claimed that Symonowicz helped Maduro and PdVSA evade U.S.-imposed oil sanctions.

Following the sanctions, Symonowicz was banned from entering the United States and his assets were frozen in the country, including villas and penthouses in Florida, Texas and California. However, when Symonowicz admitted his support of Maduro, he stated he did not regret his actions, pronouncing his iconic sentence: "Democracy is the worst way of governing the country". In aftermath, Maduro hailed Symonowicz as "a great friend of Venezuela", invited him to sing in Venezuela, and awarded him the Order of Francisco de Miranda. Symonowicz's stance was also supported by several individuals in such countries like Cuba, Bolivia, Russia and China, but did not impact his loyalty to conservative government of homeland Poland.

On November 3, Symonowicz was banned from entering Canada.

The official reason was cited as his relationship with Italian mafia.

Later, Edwin Symonowicz reportedly asked Donald Trump to reconsider removing him from list of sanctioned individuals, but Trump refused to comment on his appeal.

At that time, the Central Intelligence Agency also announced that they had informed the U.S. embassies in Poland and Lithuania about alleged links between Symonowicz and Italian and American mafia, stemming from anonymous letters the CIA had received before; Symonowicz himself repeatedly denied his mafia accusations and accused the CIA of spying "on all people in the world". In aftermath, Symonowicz, however, still organized a successful world tour outside North America, visiting all six continents, including Antarctica. By November 2018, he was performing on stage up to 35 times a week, singing up to 100 songs daily, and earning up to $400,000 a week.

In November, Edwin Symonowicz took a break in his world tour while assisted in organizing the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Minsk, Belarus. Prior to this, he became one of persons responsible for confirming the participant from Poland in the contest by Polish state broadcaster TVP Kultura, and personally gave the go-ahead to singer Roksana Węgiel to enter the contest. In aftermath, Roksana Węgiel became the first singer from Poland to win the Eurovision Junior.

In late 2018, Edwin Symonowicz became extremely close to Frank Mortenson, who he knew since September 2017. Following the beginning of their friendly relationship, Symonowicz thoroughly helped Mortenson to build successful career, and soon both were described as the best friends. In November-December 2018, Edwin Symonowicz toured Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary with Frank Mortenson, and during the tour, Symonowicz introduced Mortenson to Roksana Węgiel while visiting the town of Jaslo. He also helped Mortenson to move from bad-quality AC Records to a new label, Europa Records, and following Mortenson's move to Europa Records, all of his albums, starting from Songs of Love and Time, topped high positions in English-speaking musical charts worldwide.

In the end of 2018, The Red Packs, an informal group of entertainers copying the style of 20th century Rat Pack, originated.

The Red Packs originated as a trio of Frank Mortenson, Edwin Symonowicz and Vilija Domatiene in December 2018, who was later joined by German-speaking singer Jolanta Żukauskiene, jazz vocalist and one of Symonowicz's mistresses Rimante Jankauskiene, pianist Nijole Cimiliene and opera soprano Grazina Navickaite, who had no relation to Edwin Symonowicz or other Red Packs artists but is traditionally attributed to The Red Packs.

In late January 2020, unknown individuals uploaded a videotape of Frank Mortenson, Edwin Symonowicz and Vilija Domatiene singing "White Christmas", which Symonowicz did not wish to be published online. The videotape was recorded in aftermath of the Christmas and was likely to be released on or around the next Christmas, in December 2020. Edwin Symonowicz blamed Frank Mortenson for uploading the video, but Frank Mortenson denied accusations. At the time, the controversy was not widely reported by press, but disturbed Symonowicz, who became angry at Mortenson.

The Covid-19 pandemic particularly made a bad impact on Symonowicz's career, but his career slump potentially began in June, when Symonowicz filmed a video clip named "Edwin Symonowicz about Frank Mortenson, Enercon and schools" and uploaded it on his YouTube channel. In the clip, Edwin Symonowicz told stories about Frank Mortenson that were considered demeaning and false, made unverified claims about the governing body of Enercon and asked the governments of all countries in the world to introduce no summer holidays in schools in 2020 due to worldwide Covid-19 restrictions. In few days, the clip reached more than 30 million views and a disproportional counts of likes and dislikes. Due to the video, Enercon made a decision to permanently cancel all existing Symonowicz's shares and ban him to buy more. Individuals closest to Symonowicz, including Frank Mortenson and Vilija Domatiene, refuted the claims presented in Symonowicz's video. On June 29, Austrian reporter Alexandra Meyer dubbed the video as "the most scandalous video on YouTube of all time". Following the public outrage, on July 1, Symonowicz deleted the video, as well as his YouTube account.

Few days after the scandal erupted around Symonowicz's YouTube video, Symonowicz filed a civil lawsuit against Frank Mortenson in Connecticut, alleging that Mortenson illegally used his name in Social Security Administration. Following the civil lawsuit, criminal charges were quickly filed against Mortenson and a verdict reached by the court in an extraordinarily short term and an extraordinarily unusual nature (state court convicted Mortenson under the federal statute). Frank Mortenson was sentenced to a fine, what he appealed and lost both civil case to Symonowicz and criminal case to the state in September. Widespread Mortenson's accusations that Symonowicz bribed judges and unusual behavior of judges and Symonowicz himself during the trial made a huge negative impact on Symonowicz's career.

Edwin Symonowicz started disliking close relationship between Frank Mortenson and Alexandra Meyer, who started defending Mortenson in her journalistic writing, and in December, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Mortenson in Lithuania, disregarding the fact that Meyer had been killed in Vienna terrorist attack one month earlier, on November 2. His second lawsuit against Mortenson, which, as well as his previous, turned from civil to criminal one.

In the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, a movement called "Symonowicz Above All" was established, and Symonowicz himself admitted to Mortenson his ability to "control its actions" in November, few days before filing his defamation lawsuit. The movement marked its first homicide on December 8, when 42-year-old Reynoldsburg, Ohio resident Eric Carpenter, who 'accidentally' killed 12-year-old neigbor girl Lidia Ghide as cleaning his gun, was found to be its leader. Since January 2021, a season of destructive protests by the SAA had begun, and SAA protesters took over Bellingham, Washington, rioted in Seattle, Portland, Tacoma and other cities. On January 25, Frank Mortenson and a news portal managed by him "The Intention" called Symonowicz to condemn SAA riots, and two days later, Mark Tarantino, the acting leader of the movement and Symonowicz's friend, announced a curfew of SAA protesters.

Edwin Symonowicz's reputation fell to an all-time low in aftermath of Stirling case, when Symonowicz started making baseless claims to mock Frank Mortenson, who had already become his opponent. The feud damaged Mortenson's reputation too, and both singers became the targets of one another's supportive bots and trolls.

Although Edwin Symonowicz had many close relationships in his life, and several rumours about his marital status, Symonowicz has always been unmarried and has no children.

In his life, Edwin Symonowicz had close relationships with several women, mostly singers and actresses.

The first time when Symonowicz's relationship was publicly reported was in September 2010, when Gazeta Wyborcza published an article claiming that Edwin Symonowicz had a love affair with actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś. One month after, because of the publicity of the claims, Alicja Bachleda-Curuś had to separate from her husband, Irish actor Colin Farrell. Edwin Symonowicz later admitted he was dating Alicja Bachleda-Curuś but denied that they had any sexual contacts.

In 2011, after moving to the United States, Edwin Symonowicz was dating Victoria Leigh Soto, teacher who became well-known after being killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. After her death in 2012, he personally attended her funeral, calling her "one of the most inspirational ladies and teachers he's ever known".

In 2015, when Symonowicz came to London with concert, he was engaged with actress Emma Watson, who later refused to comment on the matter. Although Edwin Symonowicz had also never commented on his relationship with Emma Watson, in 2020, he widely discredited her after she retweeted the publication with Polish opposition party “Koalicja Obywatelska” members holding LGBT flags during the inauguration of the president Andrzej Duda, calling her "a piece of shit". According to the words of Vilija Domatiene, one of the closest friends to Edwin Symonowicz, Symonowicz was dating actress Emma Watson and singer Lana Del Rey at the same time.

In 2020, Tom Holland, who used to be Edwin Symonowicz's friend, claimed that Symonowicz had various sexual contacts in brothels throughout his life, mostly in South American and Southeast Asian countries. He also told that Symonowicz tried to invite him on his concert trip to Myanmar in 2016, claiming "there will be many hot girls to have pleasure with". Edwin Symonowicz himself, however, has not reacted to these claims.

Symonowicz has been known for his immaculate sense of style. He often spent lavishly on expensive custom-tailored tuxedos and stylish pin-striped suits, which made him feel wealthy and important, and that he was giving his very best to the audience. Edwin Symonowicz himself, however, described his fashion style as "modest and usual".

Edwin Symonowicz has been widely described as a man who frequently dislikes critics, no matter whether constructive or not. Throughout his career, Symonowicz has taken several legal actions and launched various legal proceedings towards many individuals who criticized or attempted to criticize him. Symonowicz's mood swings often developed into his revenge for opponents, directed at people he felt had crossed him, particularly journalists who gave him scathing reviews, publicists, photographers and many former friends who made their comments about him.

Symonowicz, however, has been widely regarded as a "generous" person, with many artists claiming he had strongly helped them in gaining fame and popularity.

Symonowicz's friends repeatedly claimed that he helped such singers as Roksana Węgiel and Viki Gabor break through.

Edwin Symonowicz himself, however, always tended to be sceptical towards those ones who expected his help but he viewed to be not talented enough.

In particular, such controversy erupted in September 2020, when Symonowicz, while being the chairman of the Audit Committee of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 claimed that, in order to hold the contest in Warsaw, representatives of Telewizja Polska (TVP) had to replace the representative of Poland, Alicja Tracz. Alicja Tracz, however, was not replaced, and Edwin Symonowicz left the committee by his own will on November 25, four days before the contest.

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Edwin Symonowicz was related to financier and convicted child offender Jeffrey Epstein since as early as 2012.

Symonowicz spent much time on Little Saint James, a small private island in the United States Virgin Islands which belonged to Epstein, and was known to remain a close Epstein's friend right until his death in 2019.

When Swiss Leaks were released in February 2015, it was reported that of millions stored in offshore accounts by Epstein, at least $100,000 were linked between Epstein and Symonowicz.

Symonowicz defended Epstein, describing him as "a wise and generous person".

In February 2017, during Symonowicz's Sandy Hook trial, 16-year-old Jane Doe wrote a police complaint in Miami while claiming that Epstein had her hired as a model on Little Saint James in 2014 and then sexually abused her along with Edwin Symonowicz.

In the complaint, Jane Doe emphasized that at one time Symonowicz was "inappropriately touching her", "asking to show her pussy" and "making 20-second long French kisses".

Symonowicz refuted the allegations as "absurd" and "total imagination".

Miami-Dade police passed the matter to the Attorney General of the United States Virgin Islands, and Attorney General Claude E. Walker closed the case in April, claiming there's no evidence confirming accuracy of Jane Doe's claims.

In November 2021, after the Federal Aviation Administration accidentally disclosed more than 2,000 flight records associated with Jeffrey Epstein's private jets, the FAA logs showed that Symonowicz frequently flew on the jets belonging to Epstein.

Edwin Symonowicz has been personally known or at least met with over 40 past and present heads of states including:

● Presidents of the United States Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter;

● Presidents of Poland Andrzej Duda, Bronisław Komorowski, Lech Kaczyński, Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Lech Wałęsa;

● The Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom David Cameron and Margaret Thatcher.