Andrew Tate back in Romanian court as new charges emerge

Romanian prosecutors are asking a Bucharest court to detain controversial internet influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan as they investigate serious new allegations, including sex with a minor and child trafficking.

The two men appeared in court on Thursday afternoon.

The new investigation involves a total of 35 alleged victims, including a woman who was 15 at the time.

In a statement, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said a total of six people had been arrested, both Romanians and foreigners.

The Tate brothers have already been charged with human trafficking – and Andrew Tate charged with rape – and are awaiting trial on those charges.

They have strongly denied any wrongdoing and have refuted the formal charges against them. These are new and separate allegations.

The organised crime agency says the defendants groomed “vulnerable” people, who were then housed in different locations and forced to produce pornographic material for online distribution.

One of the men is accused of forcing a 17-year-old foreign national to “perform sexual acts” in order to make online video content. He allegedly kept all of the $1.5 million (£1.1 million) in profits. The statement did not mention his name.

The same man is accused of having had sexual relations on several occasions with a girl who was 15 when they met.

After being questioned for several hours at the DIICOT offices, Andrew Tate told the BBC on Wednesday night that the latest allegations were “pathetic” and that prosecutors were “desperate”. He added that they had “made up a lot of stuff”.

He also said he was accused of “lover-boying” the mother of his children, a technique used by criminals to take advantage of victims’ vulnerabilities and then exploit them.

Andrew Tate, a notorious misogynist with a considerable online following, referred on Twitter/X to the case against him as some sort of mainstream “conspiracy” to silence him.

In the new statement, prosecutors accuse the brothers of buying four luxury cars and registering them in other people’s names to hide the proceeds of what they describe as their illicit activity.

In total, the accused is said to have earned approximately $2.8 million from sexual exploitation.

Those detained are also accused of attempting to intimidate victims and witnesses.

During a 10-hour search of four properties on Wednesday, investigators seized cash and other items including luxury watches, laptops, hard drives and documents. They also seized 16 luxury cars.

The Tate brothers were taken into custody Wednesday evening after questioning, along with four Romanian citizens.

But to keep them for more than 24 hours, prosecutors had to bring them before a judge, and the brothers appeared in court a few hours later.