After multiple allegations of sexual assault, human trafficking, and the formation of an organized crime group, Andrew Tate, a self-made multimillionaire influencer was arrested on December 29, 2022 in Bucharest, Romania. His brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women were also arrested and held in the same case, under the same charges.
Following the newest extension, the detention had previously been upheld until February 27. However, the arrest has now been extended for another 30 days as new details have emerged about the sex-trafficking claims made against him. The two women, Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu, who were jailed concurrently will now be kept under house arrest yet they refute all accusations. After showing up in court earlier this month, Andrew Tate proclaimed his innocence.
“You know I’m innocent!” the influencer shouted at reporters as he was led out of a prison van while handcuffed to his brother.
In order to obtain significant financial benefits, the suspects allegedly formed an organized crime group in early 2021 with the intention of engaging in human trafficking in Romania, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The suspects are alleged to have recruited, housed, and exploited women by making them produce pornographic content that would be sold on specialized websites.
The Associated Press reported that the agency responsible for dealing with organized crime in Romania, Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), said it had identified six victims who were sexually exploited and subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” after raids targeting Tate’s alleged operation in late December.
A previous Twitter post from January 19, 2022, by Andrew read: “I’m in detention as they ‘look’ for evidence. Evidence they will never find because we are not guilty. They have and will continue to ignore and throw away any and all testimony or hard evidence (that) we are innocent.”
The Tate brothers reportedly threatened legal action against at least one woman who accused Andrew of rape and human trafficking last week, according to a BBC story. A U.S. attorney on their behalf delivered a “cease-and-desist” letter threatening to sue the woman and her parents for $300 million (£249 million) if she did not withdraw her claims.
After arguing against the denial of the Tate brothers’ extension request, attorneys for the Tates notified the media that no new evidence was presented in court and that the prosecution’s case did not support the brothers’ extended imprisonment. He insisted the defense had “effectively paralyzed the evidence” in the case.
However, the judges’ justification for the most recent extension, according to the prosecutors who requested it, was the defendant’s ability to “exercise permanent psychological control over the victims.” As a result, the Bucharest Tribunal approved the prosecutor’s request to keep the Tates in custody for an additional 30 days.
Andrew Tate, who has lived in Romania since 2017, has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a “political” attack designed to silence him.
A post on Andrew Tate’s Twitter account before Tuesday’s decision expressed confidence in his lawyers and his eventual release. “I can easily think myself into euphoric gratefulness for things as simple as having air to breathe. I can easily think myself into the deepest and darkest depression. I’ve seen hell. I’ve lived hell. I can produce either state.”
