2024-08-22 16:35:03
Romanian authorities on Wednesday raided the Bucharest home of influencer Andrew Tate, the latest move in the country’s probe into human-trafficking allegations against the polarizing internet personality.
Tate, 37, and his brother, Tristan, 36, who were arrested in 2022 near Bucharest along with two Romanian women, were indicted by Romanian prosecutors last year and are awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
On Wednesday, masked police officers with Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, searched four homes in Bucharest and the nearby Ilfov County during their investigation, according to the Associated Press. Dozens of officers and forensic personnel scoured the former kickboxer’s large property on the edge of the capital as they investigated allegations of human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering.
Police vans took the Tates to the DIICOT offices for questioning, and the brothers were met by a small crowd of reporters and supporters when they arrived at the agency, the BBC reported. Neither brother was put in handcuffs, but they were escorted by heavily armed police officers. Tate told a local blogger that he “didn’t know” why he was back at DIICOT and his lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, told the BBC that the latest allegations were not yet clear and that he hadn’t seen the case file yet.
“During the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence,” DIICOT told AP.
Andrew Tate’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, did not address the allegations involving minors, but told AP that “although the charges in the search warrant are not yet fully clarified, they include suspicions of human trafficking and money laundering. ” Petrescu added that Tate’s legal team was present.
Hours later, Tate was back on X sharing his reaction to the raid.
“The Matrix is real. And they have a tried and true playbook. Slander is their number one tool and the process is the punishment. But unfortunately for them, Good always wins in the end,” he tweeted.
“9 hours into the house search and an armed police officer looks at me apologetically and shrugs his shoulders. He said ‘You’ve made somebody very angry,’” Tate added, later tweeting, “I don’t have a phone because it was taken by the police. But when I speak loud my words are heard by someone from a computer far far away by magic.”
The brothers are dual British-U.S. citizens who have amassed millions of social media followers. Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in that country have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. The brothers have said that they “categorically reject all charges.”
Separately, the Tates were detained earlier this year after four women reported them to authorities in the United Kingdom for alleged sexual violence and physical abuse between 2012 and 2015. However, the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute, so the alleged victims turned to crowdfunding to cover their legal costs while they pursued a civil case against Andrew Tate. A Romanian court in March approved a U.K. request to extradite the Tates over rape and sexual assault allegations; they can be extradited after their trial proceedings in Romania conclude.
Last month, a court overturned an earlier decision that allowed the Tate brothers to leave Romania as they await trial, AP reported. The earlier court ruled on July 5 that they could leave the country as long as they remained in the European Union.
