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Tag Archives: Romania
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Romanian cops raid 7 homes tied to Andrew Tate case
Romanian anti-terrorism cops raided seven homes Thursday as part of the ongoing investigation into accused sex-trafficking rapist Andrew Tate.
The Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) announced the raids early Thursday as the 36-year-old US-born influencer remains in custody facing a slew of serious sex-crime charges.
The morning raids were “in the continuation of the investigations” in the case “constituting an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape,” DIICOT said.
The raids were on seven homes “within the radius of Bucharest municipality and Ilfov counties and Prahova,” the anti-terror unit said. Local cops helped carry out the search warrants.
Tate remains in custody alongside his 34-year-old brother Tristan and two so-called “Tate’s Angels” — the influencer’s rumored girlfriend Georgiana Naghel, 28, and an ex-Romanian cop, Luana Radu, 32.
All four were arrested late last month and lost their bid to be released on Tuesday after a judge ruled they were a flight risk. On Wednesday, Tate lost a separate bid to get back his seized assets, including the fleet of luxury cars he parades to flaunt his wealth.
DIICOT also announced a similar raid Thursday tied to a suspected organized gang accused of trafficking in minors and pimping. It was not immediately clear if it was tied to Tate’s case.
In that raid, DIICOT said eight homes were searched and three people — none of whom were identified — taken in for questioning.
That alleged operation started in 2019 and “some of the injured persons traveled with the members of the organized criminal group outside the country,” DIICOT said, including France, Germany and the UK. They were also taken to “the United Arab Emirates, where they practiced prostitution for the benefit of investigated persons.”
Officials said the gang members used the “loverboy method” to seduce and then trick victims, the same tactic Tate is accused of employing.
DIICOT did not immediately respond to a message asking if that raid was connected to Tate, who was raised in the UK and lived partly in the UAE.
Divisive influencer Andrew Tate awaits Romanian court ruling
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate waited Tuesday for a Romanian court to rule on his appeal of his 30-day arrest on charges of human trafficking, rape and being part of an organized crime group.
Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on Dec. 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. Two Romanian women also were taken into custody.
All four challenged a judge’s Dec. 30 decision to grant prosecutors’ request to extend the arrest period to 30 days. A document explaining the judge’s reasoning said “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and that they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.”
Tate and the other three defendants arrived at Bucharest’s Court of Appeal in handcuffs Tuesday and were taken away in the afternoon. Eugen Vidineac, a Romanian defense lawyer representing Tate, told journalists after a morning hearing that “all four of the accused have made statements” and that “the lawyers’ pleas were listened to entirely.”
“The court has to decide. We hope for a positive solution for our clients,” Vidineac said.
A decision on the appeal was expected later Tuesday, Vidineac told The Associated Press.
Tate, a former professional kickboxer, is reported to have lived in Romania since 2017, previously was banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. The week of his arrest, he traded insults on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said it had identified six victims in the trafficking case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited by the members of the alleged crime group.
The agency said victims were lured by pretenses of love, and later intimidated, kept under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into performing pornographic acts that were intended to make money for the alleged persecutors.
Prosecutors investigating the case have seized 15 luxury cars, at least seven of which were owned by the Tate brothers, and more than 10 properties or land owned by companies registered to them, DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla said.
Bolla said that if prosecutors can prove the Tates gained money through human trafficking, the assets “will be taken by the state and (will) cover the expenses of the investigation and damages to the victims.”
If the appeals court upholds the arrest warrant extension, prosecutors then could request detentions of up to 180 days for the four people charged. If the court grants the appeal, the defendants could be put under house arrest or banned from leaving Romania.
Since Tate’s arrest, a series of ambiguous posts have appeared on his Twitter account. Each tweet garners widespread media attention.
One, posted Sunday and accompanied by a Romanian report suggesting he or his brother have required medical care since their arrests, read: “The Matrix has attacked me. But they misunderstand, you cannot kill an idea. Hard to Kill.”
Another post, from Saturday, read: “Going to jail when guilty of a crime is the life story of a criminal … going to jail when completely innocent is the story of a hero.”
Hope not Hate, a U.K. advocacy group, said it monitored Tate for years “because of his close links to the far right.” It described the influencer in a report it produced last year as an “extreme misogynist” who holds conspiratorial views.
“Our major concern is that his brand of extreme and sometimes violent misogyny is reaching a young male audience and that he could serve as a gateway to wider far-right politics,” Hope not Hate said in a statement after Tate was banned by Facebook parent company Meta in August.
Andrew Tate, brother Tristan appear in court in Romania to appeal detention
The brothers and two Romanian female associates were arrested last month. In addition to human trafficking, the suspects were charged with forming an organized crime group. One was also charged with rape, though authorities have declined to identify that person, citing local laws.
The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT, said in a statement Dec. 29 that they identified six people who were recruited and then sexually abused in Ilfov county, which includes the capital, Bucharest.
Authorities said that the victims were coerced into participating in pornography for distribution on social media and that one of the suspects twice raped a victim in March. The statement, which did not name the suspects, said the victims faced “acts of physical violence and mental coercion.”
The Tates were legally in the country, DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla said in an interview on Dec. 30, noting that the investigation started in April after the U.S. Embassy called the Romanian authorities with information that a U.S. citizen was being held involuntarily at a house in Ilfov.
Police said the four suspects organized a group in early 2021, conspiring to commit human trafficking, not just in Romania but also in the United States and Britain. Conviction in Romania on charges of human trafficking can carry penalties of between three and 10 years. For rape, penalties can range between five and 10 years.
Police earlier reported a search of two properties in April in Ilfov county, in which they said they seized assets related to the case. The Tates’ detention came after police executed five home search warrants, police said. The alleged American victim is no longer in the country, Bolla said. The other five alleged victims were Romanian and Moldovan.
Sorcher reported from London, Morris from Erkelenz, Germany. Timothy Bella and Kelsey Ables contributed to this report.
Andrew Tate and his brother detained for a month in Romania
CNN
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Controversial internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother were ordered to be detained for a month on Friday as prosecutors pursued claims of human trafficking and rape.
Authorities in Romania said police served search warrants on Thursday at five homes and took four suspects into custody – two Britons and two Romanians – as part of the investigation.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said the four suspects had been detained for an initial 24 hours. A Bucharest court accepted an application by DIICOT to hold Tate and his brother Tristan in custody for a further 30 days, their lawyer Eugen Vidineac said on Friday.
Speaking to journalists outside the court, Vidineac said the decision would be appealed. “From our perspective, there are no grounds for taking the most drastic preventive measures provided by the criminal procedure code,” he added, according to Reuters.
DIICOT alleged that the four suspects formed an organized criminal group that stretched from Romania to Britain and the United States, for the purpose of committing the crime of human trafficking.
The authorities allege that two of the suspects misled the victims “into believing that they intended to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship” while transporting victims to Romania and later sexually exploiting them with physical violence and coercion.
Authorities also said one of the suspects raped a victim on two separate occasions in March 2022. At least six victims were allegedly “sexually exploited by the organized criminal group,” the DIICOT statement said.
On Thursday, DIICOT released an edited, grainy, sometimes out-of-focus video purportedly showing the raids. A man can be seen being patted down by police. It’s unclear who is being detained in the video.
In a separate video aired by CNN affiliate Antena 3, officers from the crime agency can be seen escorting Andrew and Tristan Tate into police vehicles.
On Friday, Andrew Tate tweeted from his verified account, “The Matrix sent their agents.”
Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer, is known for his viral rants online about male dominance, female submission and wealth. He openly advocates violence against women, and had previously been banned from every major social media platform until Elon Musk reinstated his Twitter account after taking over the company.
He rose in prominence earlier this year, with many adults including school teachers voicing alarm about his misogynistic ideas taking root in the minds of countless young boys. Before it was taken down, his TikTok account racked up about 11.6 billion views.
He made headlines this week for a Twitter interaction with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who told Tate to get a life after he tweeted about his numerous cars “and their respective enormous emissions.”
There was speculation online that authorities were alerted to Tate’s presence in Romania by the appearance of a particular pizza box in one of the photos he posted in his spat with Thunberg.
But, according to Reuters, a spokesperson for DIICOT said the pizza boxes did not play a role in the detentions.
Greta Thunberg takes another swipe at Andrew Tate over pizza boxes after his arrest in Romania | World News
Greta Thunberg has dealt Andrew Tate another blow in the Twitter spat that has exploded this week, taunting him following his arrest in Romania.
Following news the controversial influencer had been detained on Thursday, the climate activist said in a post: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”
Ms Thunberg was referring to the video Tate posted of him sitting at a desk wearing a robe and smoking a cigar, in which he told her to “get a life”.
In the footage, Tate tells a person off-camera: “Please bring me pizza and make sure that these boxes are not recycled.”
He was then handed a stack of boxes that appear to bear the branding of Romanian chain Jerry’s Pizza.
With Tate’s arrest coming quickly after the video, social media has been buzzing with the theory that the pizza boxes revealed his location to police.
The theory has spawned the trending hashtag #PizzaTate, although others pointed out that Tate had been posting about his location in Romania before the row.
The Romanian authorities have not made any comment on the video or whether the pizza boxes played a part in their investigation.
Tate and his brother Tristan have been under investigation since April alongside two Romanian nationals.
His home in the capital, Bucharest, has now reportedly been raided, with a lawyer for the brothers confirming their detention.
“The four suspects… appear to have created an organised 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,” Romanian prosecutors said.
Read more: Why Andrew Tate is so controversial
The row between Tate and Ms Thunberg started when he shared a picture on Twitter of himself standing next to a Bugatti and saying he owned 33 cars.
“Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions,” he tweeted, tagging Ms Thunberg.
The Swedish campaigner responded by saying: “Yes, please do enlighten me”, adding a fake email address mocking him and ending with the words “getalife.com”.
The tweet quickly amassed more than 3.5 million likes, catapulting it into the top 10 most-liked tweets in history.
Controversial internet personality Andrew Tate detained in Romania on human trafficking charges: report
Former professional kickboxer and controversial internet personality Andrew Tate was detained in Romania Thursday, along with his brother, Reuters reports.
Romanian prosecutors said in a statement obtained by CBS News that search warrants were carried out in several homes Thursday due to suspicions of “an organized criminal group” involved in “human trafficking and rape.”
The organized crime group was formed by four suspects in early 2021 with “a view to committing” human trafficking in Romania, the U.S. and U.K. in order to “obtain important financial benefits,” prosecutors said.
Six women have been found who were sexually exploited by the organized crime group, according to prosecutors.
Two British nationals and two Romanian citizens were detained, prosecutors said, and brought to law enforcement headquarters lin Bucharest. Once they were interrogated, it was decided they’d be held for 24 hours, prosecutors added. There was no word on what would happen to them after that.
Reuters said this and other photos it obtained show Andrew Tate being escorted out of law enforcement headquarters Thursday:
INQUAM PHOTOS / Octav Ganea / REUTERS
“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 specialized websites for a cost,” prosecutors said in a statement to Reuters.
Tate and his brother Tristan were among the four people detained, the prosecutors told Reuters.
Lawyers for the Tate brothers confirmed to Reuters that they had been taken into custody.
The two brothers have been under criminal investigation since April, Reuters said.
Tate, who was born in the U.S. but raised in Britain, is known for spreading hate speech, misogyny and violence. In August, he was banned from both Facebook and Instagram for violating Meta’s policies on dangerous organizations and individuals. He has also been banned from posting to YouTube.
In 2017, he was suspended from Twitter for saying women “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, this as allegations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein were pouring in. He was reinstated to Twitter last month after Elon Musk took ownership of the company.
Earlier this week, Tate got into a Twitter feud with climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In response to the report about Tate’s arrest, Thunberg tweeted Friday, “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”
Andrew Tate Detained in Romania on Human Trafficking Charges – Rolling Stone
Men’s rights internet personalities and brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were detained on Thursday by Romanian prosecutors on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group, according to Reuters.
The brothers, who run an adult entertainment camera service, will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organized crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest, Reuters reports.
“The four suspects … appear to have created an organised 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 stated.
When reached for comment by Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for the Tate brothers said, “We cannot provide any details at the moment regarding alleged reports that they have been detained; however, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can.”
The Tates — Andrew especially — have grown in popularity online for espousing violent and often misogynistic views about women, sexuality, and rape culture. Andrew had a small stint as a professional kickboxer before he was invited to star on the 2016 U.K. version of Big Brother. He was eventually kicked off. While Andrew remains banned from most popular social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, his Twitter account was recently reinstated when the platform was taken over by Elon Musk. The brothers present themselves as teachers who want to open people’s eyes to the lies of the government, women, and left wing media, and have reportedly made millions through online courses on thought and cryptocurrency. Following several of his bans in August, Andrew told Rolling Stone in a statement that many of his controversial comments were made in jest and were part of a “character” he was portraying online.
“The media is spinning a false image of me, on repeat, and instagram bowing to pressure is a massive shame,” Tate said. “Somehow I am the villain, when all of my posts were bible verses and charitable donations.” While Tate says he’s just playing a character, there are thousands of hours of content behind his beliefs. And fake or not, he has built a financial empire on some pretty harmful takes, a clear contradiction from the “bible verses and charitable donations” he seems to think his content is all about.
The villa was first raided in April 2022, after Romanian police received a report of a woman being held against her will at the home, according to the Daily Beast. At the time no arrests were made, but authorities said the investigation was ongoing; police reported finding one American woman and one Romanian woman in the villa. At the time, a spokesperson for the U.S State Department said they were “aware of reports of a U.S. citizen held against their will in Romania, ”but had no further comment.” The brothers were not arrested during this incident.
This isn’t Andrew’s first run-in with authorities. Before he moved to Romania, several other women accused him of abuse, and he implied that he was moving to Romania for its lax approach to law enforcement.
“I’m not a rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want,” he said in YouTube video that was removed when he was banned from the site. “I like being free.”
The news also comes a day after Tate made headlines for a public feud with multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee and climate activist Greta Thunberg. Andrew tweeted a list of his luxury cars before asking Thunberg to “please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.” The climate activist responded, “Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.” Tate didn’t seem to take the insult well, first replying “How dare you?” before sending the activist a video response 10 hours later, where he made several jokes that didn’t land and then accused the 19-year-old of being a slave to the “matrix.”
No specific charges have been announced against the brothers.
Andrew Tate and brother reportedly detained in Romania in human trafficking case after apartment raided
Far-right influencer Andrew Tate and his brother were reportedly detained in Romania on Thursday as part of an investigation into human trafficking, Semafor and Romanian media out Libertatea report.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism said in a release on Thursday that two unnamed British citizens, as well as two Romanians, were detained for 24 hours for questioning as part of an investigation into women allegedly being lured into marriages, abused, then coerced into performing in exploitative online pornography videos.
Libertatea, citing “judicial sources,” named the two British citizens as Andrew and Tristan Tate, and said they were being investigated for human trafficking and rape.
The Independent has contacted the Romanian police for comment.
“The four suspects … appear to have created an organised 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 of the searches, Reuters reports. “They would have gained important sums of money.”
The investigation reportedly targeted five homes tied to four suspects, who allegedly held six women captive at various locations around Bucharest, The Daily Beast reports, citing local media.
One of the Romanian suspects in the sweep is a former Bucharest police officer who is dating one of the Tates, according to the outlet.
An unverified video spread widely on social media appearing to show Mr Tate being arrested.
“We cannot provide any details at the moment regarding alleged reports that they have been detained; however, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can,” a spokesperson for the Tates told The Independent.
Footage obtained by Romanian outlet Gândul shows officers moving through a luxury home, where guns and expensive cars can be seen.
In April, Romanian police raided Mr Tate’s home as part of a human trafficking investigation, on reports a woman was being held at the Tates’s home.
As the investigation continued, police began to look into “crimes of human trafficking and rape,” The Daily Beast reports.
“No girls were found in my house, and nobody was arrested,” Tristan Tate told the outlet at the time.
In an Instagram photo posted after the raid, Andrew Tate appeared to address the allegations, writing in a caption, “Officer…l think we can all agree that b****es love to lie.”
In 2016, Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer, was ejected from the reality TV show Big Brother, after video emerged of him hitting a woman with a belt, and a second clip showed him telling the woman to count the bruises he had left on her body.
Mr Tate and the woman in the clip both denied any abuse had taken place, describing the encounter as a consensual sexual activity, The Guardian reports.
The former kick boxer gained a large following of men online, and has been banned from various social media sites, for his aggressive and oftentimes misogynistic views, including that women should “shut the f**k up, have kids, sit at home, be quiet and make coffee”.
Earlier this week, climate activist Greta Thunberg went viral for mocking Mr Tate, who tagged Ms Thunberg in a post bragging about the carbon emissions of his various sports cars.