Andrew Tate placed under house arrest for 30 days by Romanian court | Andrew Tate

A Romanian court has ordered Andrew Tate to be placed under house arrest, his representative said. He was one of six people arrested in an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were among six people detained for the first 24 hours on Wednesday after Romania’s anti-organised crime unit, Diicot, carried out four house searches in the Ilfov region and Bucharest municipality.

Diicot had asked the Bucharest court to arrest the Tate brothers for 30 days, but the judge decided to place Andrew Tate under house arrest for that period and Tristan under judicial supervision, their representative Mateea Petrescu said on Thursday.

“The Tates welcome the decision and firmly deny all allegations made against them. They stress that the accusations are baseless and not supported by substantial evidence,” Petrescu wrote in a statement.

The Tate brothers were previously charged in mid-2023, along with two Romanian women, with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. They denied these charges.

Before their latest arrest, the brothers were subject to a travel ban, which allowed them to travel within Romania but not to leave the country.

Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist, has gained millions of fans on social media by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say demeans women.

A post on Tate’s account on X said, “All they’re trying to do is tarnish my name with complete bullshit,” without specifying who was being referred to.

Diicot said in a statement that it had ordered the arrest of six people for crimes including forming an organized criminal organization, human trafficking, trafficking in minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.

It was said that three suspects had been requested to remain in custody and another to be placed under house arrest.

According to Diicot, two of the suspects used the ‘loverboy’ method, which involves convincing people they are in a romantic relationship, to coerce 34 victims into making pornography that was then sold online for more than $2.8 million (£2.1 million) and 887,000 tokens.

Diicot alleges that one of the defendants forced a 17-year-old minor to produce pornography in Britain and Romania, generating $1.5 million in profits. It also alleges that the same defendant repeatedly had sexual relations with a 15-year-old victim.