Controversial Andrew Tate placed under house arrest amid serious charges

A Romanian court has ordered that internet personality Andrew Tate be placed under house arrest, his representative said Thursday. Tate was one of six people detained in connection with an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were among six people arrested on Wednesday within the first 24 hours after the Romanian criminal organization DIICOT carried out four house raids in the Ilfov district and the municipality of Bucharest.

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

“The Tate brothers are pleased with the decision and vehemently deny all allegations against them. They maintain that the allegations are baseless and not supported by substantial evidence,” Petrescu wrote in a statement.

Tate was also charged in mid-2023, along with his brother and two Romanian women. At the time, they were accused of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang for the sexual exploitation of women, which they denied.

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

Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist and social media influencer, has gained millions of followers by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say degrades women.

In a post on Tate’s social media account on X, the following was stated: “All they are trying to do is tarnish my name with complete nonsense,” without specifying who was being referred to.

DIICOT said in a statement that six people were arrested for criminal activities including forming an organized crime group, human trafficking, human trafficking of minors, sexual relations with a minor and money laundering.

The statement said DIICOT was seeking the continued detention of three of the detainees, while another suspect was 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 was then sold online for more than $2.8 million and 887,000 tokens.

DIICOT alleges that one of the suspects forced a 17-year-old minor to produce pornography in the United Kingdom (UK) and Romania, earning him $1.5 million. It is also alleged that the same suspect repeatedly had sexual relations with a 15-year-old victim, N1 reports.

E.Dz.