BUCHAREST — Romanian prosecutors said on Thursday they have detained divisive internet personality and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group.
Tate, banned from many social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, and his brother Tristan will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti organized-crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest.
The Tate brothers have been under criminal investigation since April.
They declined to comment but their lawyer confirmed they had been detained.
“The four suspects… appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost,” prosecutors said.
“They would have gained important sums of money.”
Prosecutors said they had found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects.
Tate has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.
Earlier this week, the British national was told to get a life by climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter after he told her he owned 33 cars with “enormous emissions.”
— Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea; Editing by Stephen Coates