Wednesday was the day when a social media influencer was taken into custody as part of an investigation into sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Andrew Tate was one of six individuals who were hauled into jail during an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Romania. According to his agent, a Romanian court has ordered that he be held under house arrest while the investigation continues.
After Romania’s anti-organised crime prosecution unit, Diicot, performed four residence searches in Ilfov county and the Bucharest municipality on Wednesday, six people were detained for an initial twenty-four hours. Among those detained were the former professional kickboxer and his brother, Tristan.
According to Mateea Petrescu, the Tate brothers’ counsel, Diicot requested that the Bucharest court place the Tate brothers under custody for a period of thirty days. However, the judge ultimately chose to place Andrew Tate under home arrest and Tristan Tate under the control of the administration of justice for that time period.
In a statement, Petrescu wrote, “The Tates express their gratitude for the decision and vehemently refute any and all allegations that have been levelled against them. “They emphasise that there is no basis for the claims and that there is little supporting evidence.”
Earlier in the year 2023, the Tate brothers were indicted together with two Romanian women for human trafficking, rape, and organising a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. However, they disputed all of these claims throughout the course of their legal proceedings.
Prior to their most recent imprisonment, the brothers had been subject to a travel ban, which allowed them to travel freely within Romania but prohibited them from leaving the country.
Andrew Tate, who considers himself to be a misogynist, has amassed millions of followers on social media by advocating for an extremely macho way of life that, according to his detractors, is condescending to women.
There was a message on Tate’s account on X that stated, “All they try to do is damage my name with complete bullshit,” but it did not clarify who was being addressed to.
In a statement, Diicot announced that it had issued an order for the imprisonment of six people for a variety of offences, including the creation of an organised criminal gang, the trafficking of minors, the trafficking of humans, having sexual relations with a minor, and money laundering.
The statement stated that it had requested that three of the suspects continue to be held in custody while another was placed under house arrest.
According to Diicot, two of the accused used the “loverboy” strategy to persuade 34 victims to produce pornography, which they then sold online for more than $2.8 million (£2.1 million) and 887,000 tokens.
The allegations made by Diicot state that one of the defendants coerced a kid who was only 17 years old to manufacture pornography in Romania and Britain, resulting in an income of $1.5 million. Additionally, it asserts that the same defendant engaged in sexual contact with a victim who was 15 years old on multiple occasions.