Andrew Tate loses appeal on luxury car seizures
Ryan King
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A court in Romania rejected social media influencer Andrew Tate’s appeal against the seizures of his assets on Wednesday.
Prosecutors seized a flurry of assets from Tate, such as his fleet of luxury cars, after detaining him on Dec. 29 last year. A court upheld that move after determining it was legal and appropriate as the human trafficking investigation against him ensues.
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A judge explained that it was “legal and (that) the goods remain at our disposal,” Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, told the Associated Press.
Authorities confiscated at least 15 luxury cars from Tate and his brother Tristan over recent weeks. This included 11 in December and four that were taken last week. Bolla was unsure if the cars seized in December were included in the ruling.
The revelation comes on the heels of a judge’s decision Tuesday to uphold a prior Dec. 30 ruling extending his detainment from 24 hours to 30 days as prosecutors continue their investigation against him. Andrew Tate, alongside his brother and two Romanian women, was arrested in Bucharest on Dec. 29. The arrest came after a high-profile Twitter exchange between Tate and climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Should prosecutors prove that the Tate brothers financed the luxury car purchases from human trafficking operations, the assets could be liquidated to compensate the victims. The Tates have denied allegations that they partook in human trafficking.
DIICOT alleges that six victims in the purported scheme were lured into the Tates’ clutches under the auspices of love but kept under surveillance. The victims were then forced into producing pornographic content to help accrue money for the Tates, the DIICOT further alleges.
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Tate, a former kickboxing champion, had made a name for himself for making remarks about women that many decried as misogynistic, such as describing them as “property.” He has vehemently defended his controversial statements and amassed a Twitter following of 4.5 million people. Tate was previously banned from social media platforms for promulgating hate speech.
He reportedly began living in Romania in 2017. His lawyers decried the asset seizures as unfair, given the charges.