Romanian prosecutors lose appeal to jail Andrew Tate. He will remain under house arrest

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - A court in Romania's 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's brother, Tristan Tate, under judicial control, which typically involves restricting communication with certain people and reporting periodically to the police. The brothers' spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said that the judge also lifted certain restrictions regarding the brothers' communication with alleged victims in the new case.

"They are free to meet and communicate with these alleged victims based on the close relationships they share and the children they have together," she said, adding they "vehemently deny all allegations" against them.

After the court's decision, Andrew Tate posted on X that the prosecutors had made a "desperate attempt to put us in jail with no evidence.”

The ruling comes weeks after Romania's anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, launched raids on four homes, including the Tates' 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 formally indicted 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 "loverboy" 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 "repeatedly had sexual relations and acts" with a 15-year-old, the agency alleges.

After the court's decision, Andrew Tate wrote in a post on the social media platform X that the prosecutors had made a "desperate 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' lawyers, Eugen Vidineac, responded to the court’s decision Thursday by saying that it shows that Romania "is a country where the judicial system is diligent and impartial and does not succumb to sensationalism.”

"We are looking forward to clearing my clients' names and proving their innocence,” he added.

After the Tate brothers' 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' case file against them met the legal criteria and that a trial could start 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.

___

Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara.