Case of Andrew Tate: Romania tows costly vehicles and other property

Romania's BUCHAREST In the case looking into Andrew Tate, the divisive social media personality who is being held in the nation on charges of human trafficking, Romanian authorities descended on a compound outside of Bucharest on Saturday to tow away a fleet of expensive cars and other assets worth an estimated $3.9 million.

The National Agency for the Administration of Unavailable Assets in Romania announced in a statement that it had seized a total of 15 high-end vehicles, 14 designer watches, and foreign currency in various denominations. According to the agency, the total cost of the products is expected to be €3.6 million ($3.9 million).

In order to remove the products, about a dozen disguised law enforcement officers and other officials descended on the compound on Saturday. A blue Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari, a Porsche, a BMW, an Aston Martin, and a Mercedes-Benz were among the fleet of vehicles.

Tate, a 36-year-old dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States with 4.5 million Twitter followers, was detained in Bucharest on December 29 along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women on suspicion of involvement in organised crime, human trafficking, and rape.

After a court upheld a judge's decision to extend their detention from 24 hours to 30 days on December 30, all four of them lost an appeal on Tuesday. A day later, Tate was unsuccessful in another appeal that questioned previous asset seizures by the prosecution in the case.

The Tate brothers' registered firms possessed more than ten properties and pieces of land, according to the anti-organized crime organisation in Romania, DIICOT, which also claimed to have seized 15 luxury cars in the case.

According to Ramona Bolla, a DIICOT spokesperson, if prosecutors can demonstrate that the defendants made money through illegal means, such as human trafficking, the assets may be used to pay for the costs of the investigation and victim compensation.

Six victims of human trafficking who were subjected to "acts of physical violence and mental coercion" and sexual exploitation by the members of the accused crime group have been identified, according to DIICOT.

According to the agency, victims were coerced into participating in pornography after being drawn in with false promises of love and afterwards bullied, watched over, and subjected to other forms of control.

Tate, a former professional kickboxer who apparently moved to Romania in 2017, was previously barred from using a number of well-known social media sites for espousing hate speech and misogynistic beliefs.

Following the transfer of assets on Saturday, Tate tweeted that "anyone educated enough to comprehend the American System is unfair would be mind blown by the injustice of the Romanian System" and that "anyone who believes I'm a human trafficker is actually a stupid."