The controversial British-American influencer has had his home searched, but why has Andrew Tate been arrested?
Tate was seen being escorted from his home in Romania by police over investigations into alleged human trafficking and rape, according to Romania’s Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism.
He’s being detained for 30 days.
Romania’s Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism said in a press release a few hours ago: “On December 29th 2022, the prosecutors of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism – Central Structure together with police officers from the Bucharest Organized Crime Brigade implemented five home search warrants in a case in which investigations under the aspect of committing the crimes of constituting an organised criminal group, human trafficking and rape.
“In the case, it was noted that, at the beginning of 2021, four suspects (two British citizens and two Romanian citizens) constituted a criminal group organised in order to commit in Romania, but also in other countries, such as the United States of America and Great Britain, of the crime of human trafficking.
It continues: “Victims were recruited by British citizens by misrepresenting their intention to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship and the existence of genuine feelings of love (the loverboy method). They were later transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county where, by exercising acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and invoking alleged debts), they were sexually exploited by group members by forcing them to perform demonstrations pornographic for the purpose of producing and disseminating through social media platforms material having such a character and by submitting to the execution of a forced labour.
It says that four people ‘reasonably suspected of being involved in criminal activity’ were taken for questioning. Following the hearings, prosecutors ordered the four people o be detained for a period of 24 hours.
“We make it clear that during the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence,” the release also stated.
This should give some answers to people asking why has Andrew Tate been arrested.
Tate said: “The matrix has attacked me.”
Andrew Tate fires shots at Greta Thunberg
The news comes after Andrew Tate made some jibes towards well-known climate justice activist Greta Thunberg, with some saying the pizza box in the video revealing that Tate was in his Romanian home, allowing the authorities to know he was there.
She later responded with this retort:
The news also comes one month after Andrew Tate was unbanned on Twitter.
And earlier in September 2022, Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodríguez, former founder and CEO of European esports giants G2, departed the organisation following the storm around a video featuring him alongside Andrew Tate, and Riot Games later suspended Carlos.
Our initial article on Tate explains why the influencer has courted controversy.
Further reading: Andrew Tate: A dangerous role model to young men or an internet idol for a disjointed generation? – Opinion
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
