Romanian authorites have seized millions of pounds’ worth of assets from Andrew Tate and his brother (Picture: EPA)
Romanian authorities claimed they seized around £3.2 million in assets from Andrew Tate following his arrest on alleged human trafficking charges.
The National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) revealed on Saturday they had retrieved 29 movable assets from Tate’s home in Romania, including luxury vehicles, watches and sums of cash in several different currencies.
The seizures were carried out on orders from prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, according to ANABI.
Several cars, including a Rolls-Royce, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, were also spotted being escorted from the Tate compound by authorities.
They were the same ones he used to taunt climate activist Greta Thunberg in a series of tweets made just days before his arrest.
Authorities later confirmed they had seized a further 15 luxury vehicles and more than 10 properties and homes belonging to Tate throughout Bucharest and the surrounding area, in order to prevent the assets from being hidden or sold.
Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors detained Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects on December 29 on charges of forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit six women.
All suspects have denied the charges.
Cars, watches and cash from several different countries were seized from the internet personality’s Bucharest compound (Picture: AP)
Tate, a professional kickboxer and former contestant on reality show Big Brother, gained notoriety online for his misogynistic remarks and hate speech.
In a series of viral rants – which saw him banned from every major social media platform until his Twitter account was reinstated by Elon Musk – Tate openly advocated for violence against women and claimed they belonged to men.
Before it was taken down his TikTok account had amassed more than 11 billion views, prompting concerns from school teachers and parents about the influence his views were having on the minds of young men.
Following his arrest, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said the four suspects had initially been detained for 24 hours.
Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking charges in December (Picture: AP)
But after a successful appeal by DIICOT to a Bucharest court, Tate and his brother’s detention period was extended for a further 30 days.
DIICOT alleged that the four suspects had formed an organised criminal group which operated in Romania, Britain and the United States, and engaged in human trafficking.
Victims were allegedly tricked by Tate into travelling to Romania under the guise of starting a romantic relationship or marrying him, before being sexually exploited with physical violence and coercion.
Authorities claimed at least one victim had been raped by a suspect on two occasions in March 2022, and at least six more were ‘sexually exploited by the organised criminal group’, DIICOT alleged in a report.
There was initially speculation Tate’s location had been confirmed to authorities by a pizza box which appeared in a video he used to mock Greta Thunberg prior to his arrest.
But a spokesperson for DIICOT later told Reuters the pizza boxes did not play a role in the detention.
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Cars, watches and various sums of cash were seized from the influencer’s Romanian home.
