Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan vowed they would “not be silenced” after a Romanian court granted an appeal in their criminal case.
An appeals court in Bucharest ruled on Thursday that the charges against the controversial influencer would not go to trial and sent the case back to prosecutors, citing inconsistencies in his evidence.
The Tate brothers and two Romanian women, Georgiana-Manuela Naghel and Alexandra-Luana Radu, were arrested in December 2022 on charges of human trafficking, forming a criminal gang for the sexual exploitation of women in which they used threats of violence to coerce them into sexual exploitation. activity for profit and tampering with evidence. Tate also faced rape charges, and all four have maintained their innocence.
The court decided to hand the criminal file against Tates back to Romania’s organized crime agency DIICOT, which led the original investigation of the men. The file on their arrest in August remains active.
The Tate brothers said they were confident DIICOT would reconsider its case against them and ultimately dismiss the charges.
Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images
“And yet they have nothing. They put me in jail, took my money, my cars and every inch of my freedom. They made me the worst enemy on the streets, dragged my name through the dirt with charges of the lowest, most heinous acts a man can be accused of, ” he added.
Tate concluded, “It’s all a lie and I will fight to the end to expose it and prove my innocence.”
His chief legal representative, Eugen Vidineac, described the court’s decision as a “significant legal victory”.
The brothers were jailed for three months after their arrest in 2022 and were later held under house arrest. They also had millions of dollars of their belongings seized from their Romanian compound.
The criminal charges in Romania are not the only legal problems the Tates are facing. They also face extradition back to their native Britain over alleged charges of “sexual aggression” between 2012 and 2015. A Romanian court has ruled they cannot be extradited until they complete their criminal proceedings there.
Tate is also being sued by four women in the United Kingdom who have accused him of sexual assault, battery and rape between 2013 and 2015.
On Wednesday, a London court described the Tate brothers as “outright fraudsters” when it comes to paying UK tax. They are being sued in a civil court for allegedly failing to pay £21 million ($27 million) in income tax between 2014 and 2022. They may be forced to pay £2 million ($2.5 million) in unpaid taxes.
In all of the above cases, the self-described misogynist has denied any wrongdoing.
