During his exile, the question of leadership within the Iron Guard was still a salient issue, and the now-disjointed organization was fraught with infighting and factionalism. In January 1954, Sima was formally and publicly "disowned" by the Legionnaire movement through a 13-page document published in "Vatra" magazine after controversy arose regarding aspects of his private life over the alleged existence of an illegitimate child: on 6 November 1948, Mardarie Popinciuc, a Romanian living in exile in Argentina, forwarded a letter to Legionary leaders alleging that Sima had illegitimately fathered the child of a fellow Legionnaire identified only as "B" while in France, a claim supported by the mother of the child and a number of other Legionnaires. This allegation caused the resignation of a number of members of the Guard, as well as the foundation of a new faction named "Moţa-Marin" under the leadership of Ovidiu Găină. According to Central Intelligence Agency documents, Sima, in light of these allegations, had originally planned to end his career by parachuting into Romania, where he had previously been sentenced to death following two separate trials. In addition to this split and the formation of the "Moţa-Marin" group, there also existed controversies surrounding Sima's politics and policies: a split of "progressive" Guardists denounced Sima's leadership as "reactionary" and "doomed to failure," and a further number of distinct splinter groups with conflicting ideologies, tactics, and leadership formed.