Following a court’s approval of a police request, the contentious British-American influencer Andrew Tate will be detained in Romania for 30 days.
Tate and his brother Tristan were both taken into custody on Thursday as part of a probe into charges of rape and human trafficking, both of which they vehemently deny.
The two are suspected by the authorities of leading “an organized crime ring,” together with two individuals from Romania.
The court in Bucharest also imprisoned Tristan along with two other people.
Eugen Vidineac, the Tates’ attorney, announced outside of court that they would file an appeal against the detention.
At this point, he continued, “guilt or innocence cannot be established; instead, we are just discussing preventive actions.” According to Mr. Vidineac, all of the accusations are refuted by his clients.
The 36-year-old Andrew Tate has not yet responded directly to the charges.
However, he published a tweet from his Twitter account after being taken into custody that made a reference to the 1999 film The Matrix.
The post stated that “The Matrix sent their agents.” The account also shared Matrix memes published by Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter.
According to their attorney, the two brothers upheld their right to remain silent at the detention hearing.
The 36-year-old would be kept in a “detention center,” a police spokesperson had earlier told the BBC.
Two British and two Romanian residents were allegedly involved in a human trafficking ring, according to a statement released on Thursday night by Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. However, the Tate brothers were not mentioned in the statement.
According to the statement, six people who were reportedly “sexually exploited” by what it called a “organized criminal group” have been identified by police.
Police claimed that the British nationals had “recruited” the victims by lying about their desire to date them, a practice they referred to as “the loverboy method.”
The statement said that later on, under threat of violence, they were made to perform in pornographic content. Mr. Tate, who was born in the US before relocating to the UK, went on to enjoy a prosperous career as a kickboxer.
He was fired from the British television program Big Brother in 2016 when a video surfaced that claimed to show him assaulting a woman. After that, he established a “webcam business,” which he characterized as “adult entertainment.”
After being banned from Twitter for claiming that women should “carry responsibility” for being sexually attacked, he went on to become well-known throughout the world and online. He was later given a second chance.
Nevertheless, he managed to become well-liked despite social media restrictions by endorsing a super-masculine, super-luxurious lifestyle, especially among young males.
He frequently made appearances in videos driving his collection of pricey sports vehicles, flying in private aircraft, and taking lavish vacations.
