Social media influencer Andrew Tate has been arrested in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized criminal group, prosecutors confirmed.
The 36-year-old British-American and his brother Tristan were arrested Thursday and are being held for 24 hours along with two Romanian suspects, prosecutors in the country said.
“The 4 Array-suspects. . . They appear to have created an organized criminal organization with the aim of recruiting, harboring and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content intended for viewing on specialized programs in exchange for a fee,” prosecutors said.
“They would have made sums of money. “
The brothers, who have been under investigation by criminals since April, declined to comment, but their lawyer showed they had been detained.
On Friday, Romanian prosecutors asked a Bucharest court to increase Tate’s detention for 30 days.
In a video of his arrest, Tate can be heard “the array attacked me” as he is escorted by police.
His lawyer said: “The suspects will be brought before the courts, with a proposal to arrest them” and told reporters that the brothers had not made any statements.
Prosecutors said six other people were known to have been sexually exploited through the “organized criminal group. “
They said the patients were recruited through “British citizens who distorted their goal of entering a marriage or cohabitation and lifestyles of the authentic emotions of love. “
They were then taken to the Romanian county of Ilfov where “through the exercise of acts of physical violence and intellectual coercion – through intimidation, constant surveillance and invocation of alleged debts – they were sexually exploited by members of the organization forcing them to engage in pornographic activities. “demonstrations with the aim of generating and disseminating through social media platforms curtains of this nature and in subjection to forced labor. “
Read more: Who is Andrew Tate?
Tate, a former kickboxing boxer, was banned from Twitter in 2017 for his misogynistic outlook and hate speech, but was reinstated last month.
It still offers on other social media platforms; on TikTok, for example, he was banned from having an account, but content posted with the hashtag Andrew Tate has been viewed billions of times.
Tate first became known in 2016 for being removed from the Big Brother truth screen after a video surfaced showing him attacking a woman with a belt; He claimed that the clip had been edited.
He advised that rape victims “bear some responsibility” for being attacked and described women as “property” belonging to men.
He also described how he allegedly violently assaulted a woman for accusing him of cheating, saying he “hit her with the machete, jumped in her face and neck. “
As a result, considerations have been expressed about its influence on young men, young men.
Tate has denied having misogynistic prospects and accused his critics of “distorting the facts,” though he also described himself as the “king of poisonous masculinity. “
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Earlier in the week, Tate sparked an argument with climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter when he shared a photo of himself next to a Bugatti and said he had 33 cars.
“Please provide your email address so I can send you a full list of my car collection and their respective mass emissions,” he tweeted, tagging Thunberg.
Ms. Thunberg responded by saying, “Yes, please inform me,” adding a fake email that mocks him and ends with the words “getalife. com. “