Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate and two other people were arrested for 30 days, on Thursday, December 29, in a case in which they are accused of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape.
This was contested by the two brother’s lawyers and the Bucharest Court of Appeal would issue a decision on January 10, 2023. Also, they contested the decision of DIICOT prosecutors to seize several of their assets.
Romanian authorities seized their car collection (including a Bugatti Chiron, a Rolls Royce, two Ferraris and a Porsche), estimated to be worth over five million euros, as well a number of buildings.
Eugen Vidineac, Tate brother’s lawyer, told Hotnews.ro that DIICOT decision was contested at the Bucharest Court, considering that it is exaggerated.
What are the allegations?
According to the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the four suspected persons are part of an organized criminal group that recruit, accommodate and exploited some women to make pornographic content, intended to be distributed for a fee on adult websites.
These women were recruited by Tate brothers who misled them that they wanted a marriage/cohabitation relationship and that they had real feelings of love for them (Loverboy method).
The women were allegedly later transported and housed in some buildings in Ilfov County where, through acts of physical violence and mental coercion, they were sexually exploited by the group members.
So far, six people who were sexually exploited by the organized criminal group have been identified.
Who are Tate brothers
Tristan Tate (34) and Andrew Tate (36) are British citizens, born in the USA, who moved to Romania 5 years ago.
Andrew Tate, 36, a former kickboxing champion, became famous after appearing on TV show Big Brother in 2016 but he was kicked out of the competition after a video of him beating a woman outside the show emerged. Although, Andrew Tate responded to the video by saying the behavior was consensual.
He became a social media influencer, with over 4 million followers on Twitter. His account has been recently reinstalled after Elon Musk purchased the social network.
Andrew Tate has been banned since 2017 from social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
