ReutersControversial influencer Andrew Tate has been remanded in custody overnight as an investigation into new allegations against him continues.
He and his brother Tristan were taken in for questioning by Romania’s serious crime agency, DIICOT, while police searched their home.
The internet celebrity is awaiting trial on rape and human trafficking charges, but now faces possible additional charges of sex trafficking and trafficking of minors, as well as money laundering and attempting to influence a witness, prosecutors said.
Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have large social media followings, have denied all previous allegations against them.
They were first detained in Romania in December 2022, then released from house arrest in August 2023.
According to a statement from DIICOT earlier in the day, four homes were searched on Wednesday morning in the capital Bucharest and the Ilfov district.
The two brothers were then taken to DIICOT in Bucharest for questioning – and were then handcuffed and placed under armed guard.
They were detained for 24 hours.
The brothers will remain in custody until prosecutors can ask a judge to extend their detention, transfer them to house arrest or release them, according to their lawyers.
Asked by the BBC about the new allegations, Andrew Tate shouted that prosecutors were “desperate”.
“Wait until you see,” he said. “They say I had an affair with the mother of my children. We tricked them into having the children.
“Ask them what the evidence is this time. [is]”
He described this record as “more disastrous than the first one”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the brothers were greeted by a small crowd of reporters and supporters as they arrived at the DIICOT building in a police vehicle.
As Andrew Tate entered the building, he greeted a local blogger who asked why he was back at DIICOT. Tate grinned and replied that he had “no idea,” before shouting through the closed door that he was in his “favorite place.”
Two police officers, both with their faces covered by balaclavas, were seen carrying heavy sacks into the same building – presumably items seized during searches of the brothers’ homes and other properties.
When asked to comment on the latest developments, their lawyer – Eugen Vidineac – said the latest allegations were still unclear because he had not seen the file.
He said he did not yet know “what we are facing.”
Officials at DIICOT have 24 hours to question the brothers. After that, if they want to detain them, they will have to bring them before a judge.
The lawyer said he did not expect the brothers to be detained because their movements were already restricted pending trial on other charges, including forming an organized crime group and human trafficking.
ReutersIn an apparent response to the raid, Andrew Tate posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The Matrix is real. And they have a tactic that has been tested and proven to work.
“Slander is their number one tool and this process is their punishment. But unfortunately for them, in the end, Good always wins.”
Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and has previously been banned from social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views.
He has repeatedly claimed that Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a conspiracy to silence him.
The Tate brothers, former kickboxers with dual British-American citizenship, are accused of exploiting women through an adult content business that prosecutors allege operated as a criminal group.
Two female Romanian associates were also named alongside the brothers in an indictment unsealed last June, and seven alleged victims have been identified.
The internet celebrities are also wanted in the UK in connection with separate and unrelated sex offences believed to have occurred there.
