Romanian authorities have seized Andrew Tate’s car collection following human trafficking scandal.
The seized cars are the same ones he tweeted about to Greta Thunberg. Andrew Tate, a divisive social media personality and former professional kickboxer, was detained in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape, an official said Friday.
Tate, a British citizen who previously was banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech, was detained late Thursday along with his British brother Tristan in the Ilfov area north of Romania’s capital, Bucharest. Two other suspects, who are Romanian, were also in custody.
All four will be held for 30 days during an investigation after a judge extended their initial detention period of 24 hours, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT. Bolla said the decision wasn’t final and can be appealed.
DIICOT said in a statement late Thursday that the four suspects in the case were arrested on charges of being part of an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape.
The agency said the British citizens recruited women who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion,” sexually exploited by group members and forced to perform pornographic acts intended to reap “important financial benefits.”
The statement didn’t name the Tate brothers. Photographs published by Romanian media outlets appeared to show Tate being led away in handcuffs by masked law enforcement officers.
DIICOT said it identified six people who were sexually exploited by the organized criminal group, and that five homes were raided on Thursday.
On Friday, Andrew Tate, who is known to express various conspiratorial views, tweeted that “The Matrix sent their agents,” without elaborating.
Earlier this week, Tate posted a video on Twitter of a mountainous region of Romania, the Eastern European country where he is reported to have lived for the last five years.
Tate also was embroiled this week in a war of words with 19-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg after he tweeted a picture of himself standing next to a Bugatti and bragged that he owned 33 cars.
Police said that 11 luxury cars were discovered in the raids that were owned or used by the suspects.
Video footage from the police raid accompanying the anti-organized crime agency’s statement shows several blurred-out sports cars, wads of cash and a handgun.
Bolla, from DIICOT, refuted widespread claims in the media that an address brandished on a pizza box that featured in a video posted by Andrew Tate on Twitter earlier this week led authorities to his arrest. She said the claims are “funny, but no.”
“The four suspects … appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” prosecutors said. “They would have gained important sums of money.”
The two brothers have been under investigation for criminal activity since April, Reuters reported.
Tate spoke to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in August after Tate claimed that big tech had de-platformed him because he “had large swaths of the population agreeing to the very traditional masculine values.”
“… I have a very traditionally masculine life. I have fast cars and a big house and a lot of money and a beautiful girlfriend, and they thought this was very, very threatening,” Tate told Carlson. “And for some reason, they decided that it’s better if they annihilate me from the internet and replace me with somebody who’s more aligned with whatever they’re trying to purport.”
Tate has been accused of sexism and drawing criticism from the left after advocating for traditional gender roles.
Tate also got into a spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg this week on Twitter after boasting that he had 33 cars with “enormous emissions.” Thunberg responded by telling Tate to get a life.
Tristan, and two others, were also detained by the court in Bucharest.
Outside the court, the Tates’ lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, said they would appeal against the detention.
“We are not at a stage where guilt or innocence is proven, for now we only discuss preventive measures,” he added. Mr Vidineac told the BBC his clients reject all the allegations.
Andrew Tate, 36, has yet to comment directly on the accusations.
But after being detained, a tweet was sent from his Twitter account alluding to the 1999 movie The Matrix.
“The Matrix sent their agents,” the post said. The account also retweeted Matrix memes posted by Twitter owner Elon Musk.
During the detention hearing, the two brothers maintained their right to silence, their lawyer told the BBC.
Born in the US before moving to the UK, Mr Tate went on to have a successful career as a kickboxer.
In 2016, he was removed from British TV show Big Brother over a video which appeared to show him attacking a woman. He then set up a “webcam business”, which he described as “adult entertainment”.
He went on to gain global notoriety and online, with Twitter banning him for saying women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated.
But despite social media bans he gained popularity, particularly among young men, by promoting an ultra-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle.
He regularly appeared in videos with his fleet of expensive sports cars, private jets and on expensive holidays.
Tate moved to Romania five years ago. Rumours swirled online that police were tipped off to Tate’s presence in the country when he posted a video taking aim at the environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
In the footage he posted, he was handed a pizza box from a local restaurant, which some users suggested had inadvertently revealed his location.
However, the pizza box is not thought to be relevant.
The row with the activist began earlier this week when Tate, 36, tagged the 19-year-old in a post boasting about the “enormous emissions” produced by his fleet of cars.
Following the arrest, she tweeted “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes,” referring to the online rumour.
Earlier, a police spokesperson told the BBC that the 36-year-old would be held at a “detention centre”.
On Thursday night, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism issued a statement, but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a human trafficking group.
The statement said officers had identified six people who were allegedly “sexually exploited” by what it called an “organised criminal group”.
Police alleged the victims were “recruited” by the British citizens, who they said had misrepresented their intention to enter into a relationship with the victims – which it called “the loverboy method”.
They were later forced to perform in pornographic content under threat of violence, the statement alleged.
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