Andrew Tate LOSES appeal against 30-day detention over sex trafficking charges

Andrew Tate today lost his appeal against the decision to keep him in jail for 30 days on sex trafficking charges, meaning he will remain in custody until February 27.

Tate, 36, was arrested in December with his brother Tristan on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group to exploit women.

He appeared in Bucharest court today with Tristan and two of his alleged female accomplices in an attempt to appeal against a judge’s decision to extend his arrest a second time by 30 days.

But all four have lost their appeal and will be held for the full 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT.

The decision came later Tate told the Romanian court that he is ‘in custody to make me mentally ill’.

He claimed his arrest it was part of a ploy to make him succumb mentally.

As Tate was escorted from the Bucharest Court of Appeals with his brother and his two alleged accomplices, he yelled at reporters: “You will find out the truth of this case soon.”

The notorious misogynist insisted there was “no evidence” that he exploited girls and forced them to create pornographic content on webcams.

“Ask them for evidence and they won’t give it to you because it doesn’t exist,” Tate yelled as he was escorted from court to a police van. Soon you will discover the truth of this case.

Tate, Tristan and their two alleged accomplices, former police officer Luana Radu and Georgiana Naghel, went to court today to appeal a judge’s decision to extend their detention a second time.

But the judges dismissed the appeal today, which means they will remain in prison until February 27.

Last month, a judge decided to extend their detention by 20 days due to the “particular dangerousness of the defendants” and their ability to identify victims “with greater vulnerability, in search of better life opportunities.”

Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming they wanted a relationship or marriage.

The victims were then taken to properties on the outskirts of the capital Bucharest and forced to produce pornographic content for social media sites that generated large financial gains, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors can ask the courts to extend the detention of suspects up to 180 days.

Earlier today, as he was being escorted into the courtroom, Tate told reporters: “They know I’m an incident.”

Asked if he expected to be released on Wednesday, he said: “There is not much justice in Romania.”

The brothers, as well as the presumed ‘lieutenants’ Naghel and Radu are being held in Romania on remand.

They received a preventive arrest warrant on December 30, 2022 and have since been held by the Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate (DIICOT) in Romania, where both are based.

Prosecutors initially argued that the brothers, if granted bail, could “exercise psychic control” over the people they are accused of trafficking.

Both have maintained their innocence.

On February 20, the Bucharest Court extended the preventive arrest warrant from January 29 to February 27, and it could be extended further.

The Tate brothers lost their appeal against the first extension last month and have lost their second appeal today.

The four detainees have yet to be officially charged with any crime and maintain their innocence.

Andrew and his brother moved into a converted warehouse in Romania in 2017, which was manned by armed guards.

In their safe house on the outskirts of Bucharest, the Tate brothers had a video chat studio where several women were found during a police raid in April 2022.

prosecutors claim the brothers lured the women into the studio where they were sexually exploited through “acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant supervision, control and invocation of alleged debts)”, and forced them to produce and share pornographic material.

Andrew Tate is also accused of raping a Moldovan woman, who he alleges followed him from London, in March 2022, which he categorically denies.

In January, he told the Bucharest Court of Appeal that the alleged victim voluntarily moved to Romania with him in November 2021.

Tate claimed she filed a rape charge nearly six months later when he refused to give her money to buy a house and become a TikTok star.

‘My case is not criminal, it is political. It is not about justice or equity. It’s about attacking my influence in the world,’ read a post that appeared on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Expressed in podcasts and shared online, Andrew Tate’s views on women, masculinity and entrepreneurship became popular in 2022 when they were shared in short clips on social media.

Eventually, he was banned from various platforms for misogyny and hate speech.

While Tate maintains his innocence, Romanian DIICOT prosecutors said in a statement that they had identified six victims in the human trafficking case.

They said the alleged victims were kept under constant supervision against their will at the armed safe house near Bucharest and forced to make pornographic content to share online.

They claim that the women were sexually exploited, physically abused and mentally coerced (‘through intimidation, […] control and invocation of alleged debts’) by members of the group for profit.