Social media influencer Andrew Tate was placed under house arrest for 30 days on Thursday while Romanian authorities investigate new allegations against him involving human trafficking and sexual exploitation. He and his brother Tristan, who was placed under judicial control, appeared in court on Thursday in Bucharest. Romania's anti-organized crime agency said that it's investigating allegations involving 35 possible victims and that six people in all have been detained, the BBC reports. Andrew Tate said Wednesday, after being questioned for several hours, that the accusations were "pathetic." Prosecutors "made up a lot," he said.
The prosecutors have accused the Tates of buying four luxury cars and registering them in the other people's names to conceal the proceeds of illicit activity. Sixteen luxury cars were impounded when authorities searched four properties Wednesday night, per the BBC. The two made about $2.8 million through sexual exploitation, prosecutors said. The brothers already were under orders to not leave Romania, though they could travel within the country, per the Guardian. They were indicted last year on charges including human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, all of which the Tates denied. The former kickboxers—who are dual British-US citizens, per the AP—are awaiting trial in that case.
Two of the suspects forced 34 victims into making pornography by convincing them they were in a romantic relationship, the agency said; the money came from selling the pornography online. Another allegation is that Andrew Tate had sex with a 15-year-old girl. Asked about that by the BBC, he refused to answer. He did call the overall case a setup, saying: "Thirty of those girls say we have done nothing wrong. Two are the mothers of our children, two have never even been here to Romania." (A court was not moved by the reported illness of the Tates' mother to allow them to leave Romania.)
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