Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, left, walk outside the Court of Appeals building, after a hearing, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, left, walk outside the Court of Appeals building, after a hearing, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) 鈥 A court in Romania鈥檚 capital on Thursday rejected an appeal by prosecutors to jail divisive internet influencer Andrew Tate, who will remain under house arrest amid a second human trafficking investigation against him that allegedly involves minors.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal also ruled to keep Tate鈥檚 brother, Tristan Tate, under judicial control, which typically involves restricting communication with certain people and reporting periodically to the police. The brothers鈥 spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said that the judge also lifted certain restrictions regarding the brothers鈥 communication with alleged victims in the new case.
鈥淭hey are free to meet and communicate with these alleged victims based on the close relationships they share and the children they have together,鈥 she said, adding they 鈥渧ehemently deny all allegations鈥 against them.
After the court鈥檚 decision, Andrew Tate posted on X that the prosecutors had made a 鈥渄esperate attempt to put us in jail with no evidence."
The ruling comes weeks after Romania鈥檚 anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, launched , including the Tates鈥 in Bucharest and nearby Ilfov county. After being briefly detained, prosecutors lost a request to keep the brothers in custody for 30 days, but appealed the decision.
Andrew Tate, 37, and brother Tristan Tate, 36, both former kickboxers and dual British-U.S. citizens, are already awaiting trial in Romania in a separate human trafficking case along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors all four last year.
In the new case, DIICOT said that it was investigating allegations of human trafficking, including the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, forming an organized criminal group, money laundering and influencing statements. The alleged crimes date between 2014 and 2024.
The agency said the defendants used the coercive 鈥渓overboy鈥 method to exploit 34 vulnerable victims who were forced to produce pornographic materials for a fee online, and that more than $2.8 million (2.5 million euros) it generated was kept by the defendants.
An unnamed foreign man also sexually exploited a 17-year-old foreigner, DIICOT alleges, and said he kept all of the $1.5 million (1.3 million euros) made from the criminal activity. The same man 鈥渞epeatedly had sexual relations and acts鈥 with a 15-year-old, the agency alleges.
After the court鈥檚 decision, Andrew Tate wrote in a post on the social media platform X that the prosecutors had made a 鈥渄esperate attempt to put us in jail with no evidence."
Andrew Tate, who has 10 million followers on the social media platform X, is known for expressing misogynistic views online and has repeatedly said that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various social media platforms for misogynistic views and hate speech.
One of the brothers鈥 lawyers, Eugen Vidineac, responded to the court's decision Thursday by saying that it shows that Romania 鈥渋s a country where the judicial system is diligent and impartial and does not succumb to sensationalism."
鈥淲e are looking forward to clearing my clients鈥 names and proving their innocence," he added.
After the Tate brothers鈥 arrest in December 2022, they were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to the Bucharest municipality and nearby Ilfov county, and then to Romania.
In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled in that case that prosecutors鈥 case file against them met the legal criteria and but didn't set a date for it to begin.
In July, a court overturned an earlier decision that allowed the Tate brothers to leave Romania as they await trial.
