A Romanian court on Friday ordered controversial former kickboxer and influencer Andrew Tate to be detained for 30 days in a pimping case, a spokeswoman for the anti-mafia prosecutor’s office told AFP on Friday.
Andrew Tate, his brother and two Romanian citizens, arrested Thursday night, are suspected of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal group.
It was after a hearing that lasted several hours that the Bucharest court decided to detain the defendants for 30 days, said a spokeswoman for the DIICOT anti-mafia prosecutor’s office, Ramona Bolla.
A heated exchange with Greta Thunberg
Andrew Tate had a heated and viral exchange with Greta Thunberg on social media this week, in which she congratulated herself for emitting a lot of greenhouse gases from her collection of big cars.
Upon news of her arrest, the Swedish activist tweeted wryly on Friday morning: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza wrappers.” This message, which has now received 2.4 million likes, helped fuel speculation that Tate had been tracked down by Romanian authorities thanks to the pizza wrapper visible in a video response he sent to him on Wednesday. Romanian prosecutors, however, denied this. “It’s not related,” Ms. Bolla reacted.
“To determine whether or not a person is in the country, we use a whole range of means,” he added, specifying that the “arrest and search warrants” were already ready.
The survey was launched in early 2021
The prosecution has been investigating since the beginning of 2021 and had already searched an Andrew Tate villa last April. Six potential victims have been identified at this stage. Tricked by the two men who pretended to have feelings for them and then kidnapped them, they were allegedly forced by violence into prostitution and producing pornographic films.
The prosecutor’s office released images of the raids, in which we can see firearms, wads of cash and sports cars seized in different places in Romania. According to the Romanian press, two women, including a US citizen, had been released by police from the property of the Tate brothers in the spring. Both men moved to Romania a few years ago.
Andrew Tate, who also has US citizenship, had appeared on the television show. Older brother in 2016. He was eliminated from the competition after video surfaced showing him beating up a woman. He then turned to social networks where he promoted masculinist theses. All of his accounts had been suspended for misogynistic comments. In particular, he considered that women victims of sexual abuse must be held accountable.
However, following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, his Dubai-based account had been reactivated on the social network. He is followed by 3.6 million people.
Source: BFM TV
