Romanian prosecutors ask court to extend influencer Andrew Tate’s detention

(Note the language in paragraph 8, which some readers may find offensive)

By Octav Ganea

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian prosecutors have demanded that Andrew Tate be held for another 30 days, the internet personality’s representative said on Thursday. He was one of six people detained 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 DIICOT anti-organized crime unit carried out four house searches in the Ilfov region and Bucharest municipality.

In mid-2023, he was already charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, along with his brother and two Romanian female suspects. They denied these allegations.

“The Tate brothers have been offered a 30-day preventive arrest by Romania’s DIICOT,” Tate’s representative said in a statement, adding that a hearing to decide on detention would be held in Bucharest at 12:00 GMT.

The representative did not address the new allegations against Tate in the statement and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.

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 social media platform X said: “All they are trying to do is damage my name with complete nonsense,” without specifying who it was about.

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

It was said that a request had been made for three of the arrested suspects to remain in custody, while another suspect would be placed under house arrest.

According to DIICOT, two of the suspects used the “loverboy” method, which involves convincing victims they are in a romantic relationship, to coerce 34 victims into producing pornography that they then sold online for more than $2.8 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.