A court in Romania has ordered that Andrew Tate be placed under house arrest, his representative said, after he was taken into custody as part of an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were among six people detained yesterday for an initial 24 hours after Romania's anti-organised crime prosecuting unit DIICOT conducted four home searches in Ilfov county and the Bucharest area.
DIICOT asked a court in Bucharest to arrest the two men for 30 days, but the judge decided to place Andrew under house arrest and Tristan under judiciary control for that period, their representative Mateea Petrescu said.
"The Tates salute the decision and firmly deny all allegations levelled against them, emphasising that the accusations are baseless and unsupported by substantial evidence," Ms Petrescu wrote in a statement.
Andrew Tate was already indicted in mid-2023 along with his brother and two Romanian female suspects for human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, allegations they denied.
Before their latest detention the brothers had been subject to a travel ban, under which they were free to travel within Romania but not leave the country.
A self-described misogynist, Andrew has gained millions of fans on social media by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say denigrates women.
DIICOT said in a statement that it had ordered the detention of six people for crimes including forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
It said it requested that three of the detained defendants remain in custody while another one be put under house arrest.
According to DIICOT, two of the accused used the "loverboy" method, which involves convincing victims that they are in a romantic relationship, to force 34 victims into making pornography which they then sold online for significant profit.
The agency alleges that one of the defendants forced a 17-year-old minor to produce pornography in Britain and Romania creating profits of around €1.35m.
It also claims that the same defendant repeatedly had sexual relations with a 15-year-old victim.
