The Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB) decided that brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate remain in pre-trial detention, in a case in which they are accused of setting up an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape, according to Agerpres.

Two young women remain in custody – a former policewoman and Andrew Tate’s girlfriend – accused of supporting the two in their criminal activity.

The four appealed to the CAB the decision taken on December 30, 2022 by the Bucharest Court, by which arrest warrants were issued in their name for 30 days.

However, their appeals were rejected on Tuesday by the judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, as unfounded.

The court debates lasted several hours, with one of the Tate brothers coming to the courtroom with the Koran.

According to the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the Tate brothers (with British citizenship) and the two young women have allegedly set up an organized crime group that engaged in the recruitment, housing and exploitation of women for the creation of pornographic content intended for paid distribution on dedicated sites. They supposedly derived important gains from these activities.

According to the police, the Tate brothers lured the victims into believing that they wanted a marriage/cohabitation relationship and that they had real feelings of love for them (the loverboy method). The women were subsequently taken to various locations in Ilfov County where they were subjected to physical violence and mental coercion (intimidation, constant surveillance, control and the pretence of debts) in order to yield to sexual exploitation and perform in pornographic content disseminated on social media platforms.

The victims told the investigators that a video chat studio was set up in the villa in Ilfov County, and they were met by armed guards upon arrival. At the same time, they would have been forced to get tattoos with the message „owned by Tate”.

Six of the group’s sexual exploitation victims have been identified so far.

During the investigation, DIICOT prosecutors seized several assets owned by the Tate brothers in Romania, namely real estate and luxury cars.

Agerpres