CNN
—
Romanian authorities say they seized nearly $4 million worth of property belonging to controversial online personality Andrew Tate over the past week as he and his brother were investigated over human trafficking and rape allegations. prostitution.
About 18 million lei, or $3,942,700, were seized, the country’s Asset Management and Recovery Authority (ANABI) said. said in a press release on Saturday.
Among the 29 properties seized were motor vehicles, luxury watches and various currencies, ANABI said.
According to ANABI, the arrests were made by order of prosecutors from the Directorate of Organized Crime and Terrorism.
Video released by Reuters on Saturday shows Romanian authorities at a large “Tate” signboard property seizing a number of high-value vehicles, including a Rolls Royce, a BMW and a Mercedes Benz.
Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate were detained in Romania in December as prosecutors pursued charges of trafficking and rape. Authorities in Romania said police served search warrants at five homes and arrested four suspects – two Britons and two Romanians – as part of the investigation.
Romania’s Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said four suspects were detained in the first 24 hours. On December 30, their attorney Eugen Vidineac said a court in Bucharest had accepted DIICOT’s application to detain Tate and his brother Tristan for another 30 days.
DIICOT alleges that the four suspects formed an organized crime group stretching from Romania to the UK and the US with the aim of committing human trafficking.
The agency said on Thursday that seven other properties were searched as part of the investigation, bringing the total number of properties under investigation to 12.
Authorities allege that two of the suspects deceived the victims into “believing that they intended to enter into a marriage/living relationship” while transporting the victims to Romania and then exploiting them. sex them with violence and physical coercion.
Authorities also said one of the suspects raped a victim on two separate occasions in March 2022. At least six victims are said to have been “sexually exploited by an organized crime group, ‘ said the DIICOT statement.
Tate, a former professional kickboxer, is known for his viral rants about male domination, female subjugation and wealth. He openly advocated violence against women and was previously banned from every major social media platform until Elon Musk restored his Twitter account after taking over the company.
He rose to prominence earlier this year, with many adults including teachers at his school voicing the alarm about his misogynistic thoughts ingrained in the minds of countless boys. Before it was taken down, his TikTok account had racked up about 11.6 billion views.
He made headlines the week of his arrest for interacting on Twitter with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who told Tate to stay alive after he tweeted about his countless cars “and gas emissions” their respective huge emissions”.
There is speculation online that authorities were alerted to Tate’s presence in Romania by the appearance of a particular pizza box in one of the photos he posted during an argument with Thunberg.
However, according to Reuters, a DIICOT spokesman said the pizza boxes played no role in the detention.
