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Controversial internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother arrested in Romania, according to their lawyer

2022-12-30T14:15:44.433Z


Controversial internet personality and former kickboxer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were arrested in Romania on Thursday, according to their defense lawyer. Romanian authorities have announced an investigation into human trafficking and rape, but have not released the names of the suspects.


(CNN) --

Controversial internet personality and former kickboxer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were arrested in Romania on Thursday, according to their defense attorney.

Romanian authorities have announced an investigation into human trafficking and rape, but have not released the names of the suspects.


A lawyer for the brothers told CNN that they are not under arrest, but detained by the Romanian authorities for 24 hours.

"He (Andrew Tate) was not arrested. He was detained for 24 hours," his lawyer Eugen Vidineac said, adding that the brothers are expected to have a court hearing later on Friday.

The attorney did not discuss any of the accusations.

According to a statement from Romania's Directorate of Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) released on Thursday, police served search warrants at five houses and detained four suspects, including two British and two Romanian.

DIICOT did not name any of the four suspects, but released edited, grainy and sometimes blurry video purporting to show the raids.

A man can be seen being searched by the police.

It is unclear who is being detained in the video.

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In a separate video posted by CNN affiliate Antena 3, officials from Romania's Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate can be seen escorting Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate to police vehicles.

On Friday, Andrew Tate tweeted from his verified account: "The Matrix sent their agents."

The DIICOT alleged that the four suspects formed an organized criminal group that stretched from Romania to the United Kingdom and the United States, in order to commit the crime of human trafficking.

Authorities allege that two of the suspects misled the victims "into believing they intended to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship" while transporting the victims to Romania and then sexually exploiting them with physical violence and coercion.

Authorities also said a victim was raped on two separate occasions in March 2022 by one of the suspects.

At least six victims have been identified who were allegedly "sexually exploited by the organized criminal group," says the DIICOT statement.

The four suspects will remain in detention for 24 hours after their questioning, the DIICOT reported on Thursday.

Andrew Tate's dispute with Greta Thunberg

Andrew Tate's arrest in Romania comes after he was involved in a Twitter spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg, in which he bragged on Tuesday about "huge emissions" from his luxury cars.

He asked Thunberg for her email to send him a full list of her car collection, and the climate activist responded to her taunt by saying, "yes, please enlighten me. Email me at small** *energy@getalife.com".

CNN's Irene Nasser and Lauren Kent contributed to this report.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-12-30

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