Romanian police carry out new raids on Andrew Tate’s home

Romanian police raided the home of controversial internet personality Andrew Tate again on Wednesday morning. He is currently awaiting trial for human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The raids, carried out by masked officers, were part of a broader investigation led by DIICOT, the Romanian agency for combating organised crime.

The agency revealed that it searched four premises in Bucharest and the nearby Ilfov district, investigating allegations of human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual exploitation of a minor, witness tampering and money laundering. DIICOT said hearings would be held at its headquarters later.

In response to the raids, Tate’s spokesman, Mateea Petrescu, acknowledged that while the charges listed in the search warrant were not entirely clear, they included suspicions of human trafficking and money laundering. Petrescu did not comment on the allegations involving minors.

Dozens of police officers and forensic experts searched Tate’s sprawling estate on the outskirts of Bucharest.

DIICOT stressed that throughout the investigation, the suspects are entitled to procedural rights and guarantees under the Code of Criminal Procedure, including the presumption of innocence.

Andrew Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan, 36, both former kickboxers and dual British-American citizens, were arrested near Bucharest in 2022, along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally charged all four last year, but the defendants have denied all allegations.

In April, the Bucharest tribunal ruled that the prosecutors’ case met legal standards, clearing the way for a trial, although no start date has been set. The ruling followed months of preliminary hearings in which the defendants challenged the prosecutor’s evidence and case.

After their arrest, the Tate brothers were held for three months before being placed under house arrest. Their freedom of movement was initially restricted to the Bucharest and Ilfov counties, and later to the whole of Romania.

Last month, a court overturned an earlier decision that allowed the brothers to travel outside Romania while they awaited trial, provided they remained within the European Union. The July 5 ruling allowing their travel within the EU was deemed final.

Andrew Tate, who has 9.9 million followers on the social media platform X and is notorious for his anti-woman views, has repeatedly claimed that the charges against him are baseless and part of a political plot to silence him.

He had previously been banned from several social media platforms for promoting hate speech and misogyny.

In March, the Tate brothers appeared before the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case, following arrest warrants issued by British authorities over allegations of sexual abuse in the UK dating back to 2012-2015.

The Court of Appeal granted the UK’s extradition request, but only after legal proceedings in Romania had been completed.