Andrew Tate: Divisive influencer loses appeal against asset forfeiture

Bucharest, Romania – A court in the Romanian capital Bucharest has dismissed an appeal by controversial social media personality Andrew Tate against asset forfeiture by prosecutors who are investigating him on charges of involvement in an organized crime group and human trafficking, an official said Wednesday.

Tate, 36, a British and US citizen with 4.5 million Twitter followers, was detained on December 29 in Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. On Tuesday, the court upheld the judge’s Dec. 30 decision to extend their detention from 24 hours to 30 days.

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In a separate hearing on Wednesday at the Bucharest Tribunal, Tate lost an appeal challenging assets confiscated by prosecutors, including real estate and a fleet of luxury cars, said Ramona Bolla, spokesperson for Romanian organized crime agency DIICOT.

The court “ruled that the confiscation is legal and (that) the goods remain in our possession,” she told The Associated Press.
Prosecutors investigating the case have so far seized 15 luxury cars — 11 in the December raids and four last week — at least seven of which are owned by the Tate brothers, and more than 10 properties and land belong to companies registered on them. Bolla said it’s unclear if any of the assets seized since December were included in Wednesday’s appeal.

Bolla said if prosecutors can prove that Tates received the money through human trafficking, those assets could be used to cover the costs of the investigation and compensate the victims.

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Ahead of Wednesday’s court decision, Konstantin Gliga, one of the lawyers representing Tate, told the media that the forfeiture of the assets was disproportionate to the charges.

DIICOT said it had identified six trafficking victims who had been subjected to “acts of physical abuse and mental coercion” and sexual exploitation by members of an alleged criminal gang.

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The agency said the victims were lured with the pretense of love and then intimidated, kept under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being forced to film pornography to earn money for their alleged stalkers.

Tate, a former professional kickboxer who has reportedly been living in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and inciting hatred.

McGrath from Sighisoara, Romania.