Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have today had restrictions imposed on their movement relaxed by a Romanian court.
The Bucharest Tribunal’s decision to modify judicial control measures against Tate means he can now travel anywhere in Romania, his spokesman said.
The divisive 36-year-old has been accused of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, charges he denies.
He was arrested in December and released from house arrest in August and placed under judicial supervision, limiting his movements to the territory of Bucharest municipality and nearby Ilfov province unless he received prior permission from a judge. Yet he cannot leave the country.
The ruling comes after Tate appeared in court on Tuesday seeking an end to restrictions imposed on him after winning an appeal to be released from home detention last month.
Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan today had restrictions imposed on their movement relaxed by a Romanian court
Romanian prosecutors formally charged Tate in June, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women in the same case. All four were arrested near Bucharest in late December and have denied the charges against them.
Outside court on Tuesday, Andrew Tate told reporters that “things are moving in the right direction” and described the case against him as a “witch hunt.”
“There is not a single video of an abused girl or a single statement against us,” he said. “If you get too big and too successful, people will come and try to attack you.”
Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested along with two women on December 29, 2022. All are suspected of human trafficking and forming an organized crime group, while Tate is suspected of rape.
DIICOT, the Romanian anti-organized crime group, has accused the Tates of recruiting women through the ‘loverboy’ method and forcing them to create explicit content on websites such as OnlyFans for their financial benefit.
Investigators have identified seven potential victims in the case.
The Tates were officially charged on June 20, and on August 4 they were placed under judicial control, restricting their movements.
They continue to deny the allegations.
Andrew Tate (pictured), a divisive social media influencer, is accused of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, charges he denies
Tate also asked the court Tuesday to return his belongings seized during investigations. In January, Romanian authorities seized fifteen luxury cars, fourteen designer watches and cash in various currencies. The total value of the goods was estimated at the time at 3.6 million euros, according to the authorities.
“They took a lot of stuff, 15 cars, a lot of valuables,” Tate said Tuesday. “It would be nice to get my stuff back.”
The court postponed discussion of his assets until early November. If prosecutors can prove that the Tate brothers made money from illegal activities, including human trafficking, the assets could be used to cover the costs of the investigation and compensation for the victims, Romania’s Organized Crime Agency said.
Tate, a former professional kickboxer with 7.9 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.
Tate was previously banned from several prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
Earlier this month, tech company Apple pulled a Tate-made social media app from its app store, days after Google’s Play Store did the same.
Their latest court appearance in the Eastern European country comes as four British women are reportedly set to sue Andrew Tate after claiming he strangled and forcibly controlled them, while one claimed she was raped.
The self-confessed misogynist is said to have committed the abuse between 2013 and 2016, before gaining fame on social media.
Each woman claims they were choked until the blood vessels in their eyes burst, while one said the YouTuber once sent her a text saying “I love raping you.”
The ruling comes after Tate and his brother Tristan (left) appeared in court on Tuesday, seeking an end to restrictions imposed on him after he won an appeal last month to be released from house arrest
Tate denies the allegations and has threatened to sue them for defamation.
Of the four women, three went to the police at the time, but after a four-year investigation the Crown Prosecution Service laid no charges.
The women now believe a civil case is their only option The Sunday times. They reportedly plan to sue Tate for personal injury and bodily harm.
The claim will be filed in the coming weeks.