BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) – A Romanian court on Wednesday upheld a second 30-day jail term for divisive influencer and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate, who is being held on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, an official said.
Tate lost his appeal against a judge’s Jan. 20 decision to extend his detention a second time by 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT.
Tate, 36, a British-American national who has nearly 5 million followers on Twitter, arrived at Bucharest’s Court of Appeal with handcuffs on his brother Tristan, who is being held along with two Romanian women in the same case. None of the four have been formally charged.
The court rejected their appeals and all will remain in detention until February 27 while prosecutors continue to investigate the case. You have previously lost an appeal for an earlier 30-day extension.
A document from The Associated Press explaining the Jan. 20 decision said the judge considered the “particularly dangerous nature of the defendants” and their ability to identify victims “with an increased vulnerability in search of better life opportunities.” .
Tina Glandian, an American attorney who has previously represented celebrities including singer Chris Brown and former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, joined the Tates’ legal defense team on Wednesday to work with them.
“The defense team has advanced extensive legal arguments to indicate the lack of evidence against the Tate brothers,” she told a news conference ahead of the verdict. “It’s no secret that the Tate brothers are controversial public figures, but this isn’t about their public persona…this is about violations of international human rights and due process.”
“So far the system has failed,” she said. “The Tate brothers, who are both US citizens, have now been in prison without bail and without charges against them for over 30 days.”
As the Tates left court after Wednesday morning’s hearing, Andrew Tate said: “Ask them for evidence and they won’t give you any because there isn’t any. You will soon learn the truth about this case.”
Tate, who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. He has claimed there is “zero evidence” against him in the case, claiming it was instead a “political” attack to silence him.
“My case is not criminal, it is political. It’s not about justice or fairness. It’s about attacking my influence on the world,” read a post on his Twitter account on Sunday.
His Twitter followers have grown by several hundred thousand since his initial arrest in December. An online petition for the brothers’ release, launched in January, has garnered nearly 100,000 signatures.
After the Tates and the two women were arrested, anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said in a statement that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who had been subjected to “acts of physical violence and psychological coercion” by and from them members of the alleged criminal group had been sexually exploited.
The agency said the victims were lured with pretenses of love and were later intimidated, monitored and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for significant financial gain.
Last month, Romanian authorities entered a compound linked to the Tate brothers near Bucharest and towed away a fleet of luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a Porsche. They said they seized an estimated $3.9 million worth of assets.
Prosecutors said if they can prove the owners of the cars made money from illegal activities such as human trafficking, the assets would be used to help cover the costs of the investigation and compensate victims. Tate also unsuccessfully appealed the seizure of assets.
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McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.