BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian authorities towed away a fleet of luxurious automobiles Saturday from the house of the divisive social media character Andrew Tate, days after he was positioned beneath home arrest following new human trafficking allegations.
Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan Tate, 36, each former kickboxers and twin British-U.S. residents with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and recognized for his or her misogynistic views, are already awaiting trial in Romania, together with two girls. They had been charged with human trafficking and forming a legal gang to take advantage of girls. Andrew Tate was additionally charged with rape in that case.
The luxurious automobiles, impounded from their house close to the capital, included a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Mercedes-Benz, McLaren and a extra humble-looking traditional pink Lada. The seizure got here two days after Romania’s anti-organized crime company, DIICOT, raided 4 houses in Bucharest and close by Ilfov county and detained six individuals, together with the Tate brothers. Officers additionally confiscated hundreds of {dollars} in money, laptops and knowledge storage drives.
One of many Tates’ legal professionals, Georgiana Popa, instructed reporters outdoors the brothers’ house Saturday that the seizures are “authorized, however unfounded” and stated it has been contested.
“The vehicles will not be (the brothers’) property,” she stated, with out offering further info.
The Tate brothers appeared on Thursday at a Bucharest court docket as prosecutors sought to remand them in custody. However a choose denied that request and positioned Andrew Tate beneath home and Tristan Tate beneath judicial management, which usually entails limiting contact with sure individuals and having to periodically report back to the police. The brothers’ spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, stated that the Tates firmly deny all allegations in opposition to them and “stay steadfast in proving their innocence.”
Within the new case, DIICOT, stated that it’s investigating allegations of human trafficking, together with the trafficking of minors, sexual activity with a minor, forming an organized legal group, cash laundering, and influencing statements.
The company additionally stated the defendants used the coercive “loverboy” technique to take advantage of 34 susceptible victims, who had been pressured to provide pornographic supplies for a charge on-line, and that greater than $2.8 million (2.5 million euros) it generated was stored by the defendants.
An unnamed overseas man additionally sexually exploited a 17-year-old foreigner, DIICOT alleges, and stated that he stored all the $1.5 million (1.3 million euros) produced from the legal exercise. The identical man “repeatedly had sexual relations and acts” with a 15-year-old, the company alleges.
Andrew Tate, who has 9.9 million X followers, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors don’t have any proof in opposition to him and that there’s a political conspiracy to silence him. He was beforehand banned from numerous social media platforms for misogynistic views and hate speech.
Authorities have beforehand confiscated a few of the brothers’ property.
After the Tates’ arrest in December 2022, authorities seized 15 luxurious vehicles, 14 designer watches and money in a number of currencies. The whole worth of the products, authorities stated on the time, was estimated at 3.6 million euros ($3.9 million). In April, the Bucharest Tribunal dominated the prosecutors’ case file in opposition to them met the authorized standards and {that a} trial may begin, however didn’t set a date for it to start.
Final month, a court docket overturned an earlier resolution that allowed the Tate brothers to go away Romania as they await trial. The court docket’s resolution is closing and might’t be appealed.
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Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara.
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