(Bucharest) The American-British influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, arrested at the end of December in Romania in a pimping case, were released on appeal on Friday and will be placed under house arrest, according to a decision of the judges confirmed at the AFP by the prosecution.
“The prosecution’s proposal to extend the pre-trial detention is rejected” and “this preventive measure is replaced” by a “house arrest” with immediate effect, ordered the Bucharest Court of Appeal on Friday.
The detention of the two brothers, who claim their innocence and denounce their imprisonment, had been extended several times and for the last time on March 22, always at the request of the prosecutors.
Arrived on the scene, one of their lawyers, Eugen Vidineac, said he had not been informed of the details of this decision, according to an AFP journalist present on the spot.
Their defense regularly denounced since their incarceration an empty file supported by no tangible evidence and refuted any risk of departure abroad, arguing the links of their clients with the country. Tristan Tate is the father of a baby born during his detention.
Muscles and cigars
With them are released two Romanians, a former police officer and Andrew Tate’s girlfriend. They had been arrested alongside them on December 29 during a vast operation carried out after several months of investigation.
Andrew Tate, 36, and Tristan, 34, are suspected of having deceived “several victims, including minors” for “sexual exploitation” purposes, in particular for the production of pornographic films, according to the prosecution responsible for the fight against organized crime (DIICOT).
Andrew Tate is a former kickboxing world champion. He first rose to prominence by appearing on the UK reality show Big Brother in 2016. But he was quickly eliminated after a video emerged showing him hitting a female.
He then took to social media and has millions of followers online. He promotes masculinist theses there, fascinating teenagers in the Anglo-Saxon world and beyond with his bulging muscles, his cigars and his luxury cars. His name is one of the most searched on Google.
He has been suspended in the past from several social networks for misogynistic remarks. His Twitter account, now followed by 5.4 million subscribers, was restored when billionaire Elon Musk bought the social network. He coins his advice to men to help them become rich.