Andrew Tate released from house arrest amid sex trafficking charges
Andrew Tate has won an appeal in a Romanian court to be released from house arrest.
Despite winning the appeal, the divisive online influencer will not be allowed to leave the country as he awaits trial for sex trafficking charges.
Tate, 36, his brother Tristan, and two women this week appealed against a court decision made last month to keep them under house arrest for a further 30 days.
Their appearance at the Court of Appeal in Bucharest came after the influencer was formally charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women in June.
Tristan and two Romanian women were charged with human trafficking.
The four will not be able to leave Romania or travel to some parts of the country but can leave home and travel within Bucharest and Ilfov.
The Tate brothers and the two women- and two Romanian women – Luana Radu and Georgiana Naghel – have been accused of forming a criminal group in 2021 ‘in order to commit the crime of human trafficking’ in Romania, as well as in the United States and Britain.
They are alleged to have tricked seven women into sexual exploitation on fake promises of a relationship or marriage before being subjecting them to sexual exploitation and physical violence- a technique authorities have labelled the ‘loverboy method’.
The brothers were first arrested at a property in Bucharest in December last year and held in custody until March – when they were released under house arrest.
The former professional kickboxer has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged the case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.
One of the defendants is accused of raping a woman twice in March 2022, according to Romanian authorities. The women were allegedly controlled by ‘intimidation, constant surveillance’ and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.
Last week, Rolling Stone that leaked messages have demonstrated how Tate coerced women into doing sex work for him.
According to Rolling Stone, purported messages posted by Tate in a group chat depicted the influencer describing women as ‘targets’ and ‘assets’ and spoke of isolating and manipulating them.
In one purported message, he described how he isolated one woman until she ‘lost her support networks at home’ and kept her at the compound in Bucharest.
‘The real goal is for her to agree to never go anywhere without me. Not even her home town. I need her working,’ he wrote, according to screenshots.
‘Since she moved [to Bucharest] she’s been fed. But nothing else,’ he wrote.
‘She’s broke. And she can’t go home. And she can’t leave the house. Man, I sound almost evil,’ he added, according to the leaked messages.
A spokesman Tate told MailOnline the leaked messages were fake, and suggested they may have been created by an AI.
During a combatitive interview with the BBC in June, Tate angrily denied the allegations put to him and told the female interviewer: ‘You’re not the boss here because I’ve allowed you into my house.’
One of his alleged victims, a British woman referred to as Sophie to protect her identity, previously told the BBC that Tate slapped and strangled her to the point of passing out ‘during rough sex’.
When asked by the BBC about Sophie’s claims, Tate said: ‘I know the case intimately and you don’t. I have seen all the criminal files and the evidence against me and you haven’t.
‘I know the truth of what happened and you don’t. And I’m telling you absolutely and utterly, I’ve never hurt anybody, that the case that’s been put against me is completely and utterly fabricated and I’m never going to be found guilty of anything.’
When asked about Sophie’s testimony, Tate claimed she did not exist and instead kept asking the BBC reporter questions.
‘I’ve asked you a question and I’ve allowed you into my house,’ Tate said, to which the BBC reporter responded: ‘I am asking you a question. You get to decide the answers.’
But Tate hit back and said: ‘No we are equal here. I’ve allowed you into my house. You don’t come here with a position of authority. I’m doing you the favour as legacy media, giving you relevance, by speaking to you.
‘And I’m telling you now, this Sophie, which the BBC has invented, who has no face. Nobody knows who she is. I know.’
Following the interview, Tate took to social media to say: ‘The mainstream media which vilify me, beg me for interviews under the guise of balanced journalism. The Matrix is desperate.’
Andrew Tate, who has been based mainly in Romania since 2017, has amassed millions of followers on social media, particularly among young men.
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