Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody for another 30 days

[ad_1]

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan today said they are ‘speechless’ after a Romanian court decided the misogynistic influencer must remain in prison for another 30 days on sex trafficking charges.

Tate, 36, was arrested on December 29 in Bucharest along with Tristan and two Romanian women on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit victims.

Today, a judge granted prosecutors a fourth 30-day extension on their arrest, meaning all four – the Tate brothers and Luana Radu, 32, and Georgina Naghel, 28 – will remain in custody until April 21, Tate’s spokesperson told MailOnline. None of the four have yet been formally charged.

Tate and Tristan slammed the judge’s decision, and said his image has been ‘irreparably harmed’ by the Romanian criminal justice system while insisting it will ‘take years to rebuild’ his reputation. 

Their spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The court has decided to extend the Tate brothers’ preventative arrest. We have been rendered speechless by the news. 

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody for another 30 days

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan (pictured on February 27) will remain in prison for another 30 days on sex trafficking charges after a Romanian court today extended their detention

Tate was arrested on December 29 with his brother Tristan on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women

Tate, 36, was arrested on December 29 with his brother Tristan on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women 

Prosecutors have said the Tate (pictured) and Tristan recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage

Prosecutors have said the Tate (pictured) and Tristan recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage

‘The interaction with the judge was extremely dynamic and the brothers were offered for the first time the opportunity to present all legal guarantees that they are not a flight risk,’ they said.

See also  View hosts blast Harry and Meghan for CRYING, as Joy Behar brands Meghan racism claim 'hearsay'

‘They are the first ones who want light to be shed on this case. The substantial material damages they have suffered are nothing compared to the moral ones.

‘Their image has been irreparably harmed and it will take years to rebuild the reputation, trust and connection with the general public.’

The brothers will be appealing against the decision to extend their detention by 30 days. 

The decision came just over a week after Tate was denied bail after nearly three months behind bars. At the time, the influencer said he was ‘disappointed’ by the decision as he had ‘high hopes to be reunited with his family.’ 

Tate is appealing the decision and his case will be heard on 28 March. 

Last month, Tate, who is accused of recruiting young women and forcing them to create online pornographic content, lost another appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest for a third time. 

And today a judge ruled that Tate, Tristan and their two alleged accomplices must remain in custody for another 30 days. 

A document explaining an earlier decision to keep them in jail said the judge took into account the ‘particular dangerousness of the defendants’ and their capacity to identify victims ‘with an increased vulnerability, in search of better life opportunities.’ 

The prosecution can continue to request detentions for 180 days in total, meaning that if the judge continues to extend his arrest period, Tate will not be released from prison until at least 27 June.

Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage.

The victims were then taken to properties on the outskirts of the capital, Bucharest, and coerced to produce pornographic content for social media sites that generated large financial gain, prosecutors said.

See also  Russell Hill and Carol Clay: Secret details that could be kept from public

Earlier this month, Tate denied that he has cancer after confirming that he has a ‘dark spot on his lung’. 

Tate’s Twitter account said the scar on his lung ‘is from an old battle’ after the medical details were released last week.

‘I do not have cancer. My lungs contain precisely 0 smoking damage. In fact, I have an 8L lung capacity and the vital signs of an Olympic athlete,’ the update said.

‘There is nothing but a scar on my lung from an old battle. True warriors are scarred both inside and out,’ the post added in a style that has become typical of Tate’s social media messages since his detention. 

Luana Radu, 32, is a former police officer in Bucharest accused of helping Tate to coerce and control vulnerable women into making porn videos

Georgiana Naghel, 28, is an American citizen and model believed to have been dating Tate for almost a year

Former police officer Luana Radu (left) and Georgiana Naghel (right) are suspected of assisting the Tate brothers in the crimes they are under investigation for

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate arrive at The Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on February 27 alongside Radu and Naghel

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate arrive at The Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on February 27 alongside Radu and Naghel 

Tate and Tristan moved into a converted warehouse in Romania in 2017, which they staffed with armed guards.

At their safehouse on the outskirts of Bucharest, the Tate brothers had a video chat studio where several women were found during a police raid in April 2022. 

Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said in a statement after the December arrests that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were allegedly subjected to ‘acts of physical violence and mental coercion’ and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.

See also  Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are arm-in-arm in Italy

The agency said victims were lured with pretenses of love and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.

In January, Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest linked with the Tate brothers and towed away a fleet of luxury cars that included a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a Porsche. They reported seizing assets worth an estimated $3.9 million. 

Prosecutors have said that if they can prove the cars’ owners gained money through illicit activities such as human trafficking, the assets would be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and to compensate victims. Tate also unsuccessfully appealed the asset seizure. 

 Tate is also accused of raping a Moldovan woman, who he alleges followed him from London, in March 2022, which he categorically denies. 

In January, he told the Bucharest Court of Appeal that the alleged victim moved to Romania with him voluntarily in November 2021.

Tate claimed she filed a rape allegation nearly six months later when he refused to give her money to buy a house and become a TikTok star. 

‘My case is not criminal, it’s political. It’s not about justice or fairness. It’s about attacking my influence on the world,’ read a post that appeared on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Tate’s views on women, masculinity and entrepreneurship, voiced in podcasts and shared online, became popular in 2022 as they were shared in short clips around social media.

He was ultimately banned from various platforms for misogyny and hate speech.   

Tate has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a ‘political’ conspiracy designed to silence him. 

[ad_2]

Source link