Andrew Tate will be allowed to leave Bucharest, judge rules

Andrew Tate will be allowed to leave Bucharest and travel around Romania but will be banned from leaving the country court rules ahead of sex trafficking trial

• The divisive social media influencer is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies
• He appeared in court on Tuesday to appeal the judicial control measures 

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have had restrictions imposed on their movement relaxed today by a Romanian court.

The decision by the Bucharest Tribunal to alter the judicial control measures against Tate means he can now travel anywhere in Romania, his spokesperson said. 

The divisive 36-year-old is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies.

He was arrested in December, and in August was released from house arrest and placed under judicial control, which limited his movements to the territories of Bucharest Municipality and the nearby Ilfov County – unless he obtained prior approval from a judge. Still, he cannot leave the country.

The ruling comes after Tate appeared at the court on Tuesday, seeking an end to the restrictions imposed on him, and to retrieve seized assets.

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have had restrictions imposed on their movement relaxed today by a Romanian court

Romanian prosecutors formally indicted Tate in June along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women in the same case. All four were arrested in late December near Bucharest and have denied the allegations against them.

Outside the court on Tuesday, Andrew Tate told journalists that ‘things are moving in the correct direction’ and described the case against him as a ‘witch-hunt.’

‘There’s not a single video of an abused girl or one single statement against us,’ he said. ‘If you get too big and too successful, people are going to come and try and attack you.’

DIICOT, the Romanian anti-organised crime agency, has accused the Tates of having recruited women through the ‘loverboy’ method and forcing them to create explicit content on websites like OnlyFans for their financial benefit.

Investigators have identified seven potential victims in the case.

They continue to deny the charges.

Tate also asked the court on Tuesday to return his assets that were seized during investigations. In January, Romanian authorities seized 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in several currencies. The total value of the goods at the time, authorities said, was estimated at 3.6 million euros ($3.9 million).

‘They took a lot of stuff – 15 cars, and they took a lot of things of a lot of value,’ Tate said on Tuesday. ‘It’d be nice to get my things back.’

The court postponed discussing his assets until early November. If prosecutors can prove the Tate brothers gained money through illicit activities including human trafficking, the assets could be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and compensation for victims, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency has said.

Divisive social media influencer Andrew Tate (pictured) is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies

Tate, a former professional kickboxer who has 7.9 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.

Tate was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and for hate speech.

Earlier this month, the technology company Apple withdrew a social media app created by Tate from its app store, days after Google’s Play Store did the same.

Their latest court appearance in the Eastern European country comes as four British women are reportedly set to sue Andrew Tate after alleging he choked and coercively controlled them, with one claiming she was raped.

The self-proclaimed misogynist is said to have carried out the abuse between 2013 and 2016, before he rose to prominence on social media. 

Each woman claims they were choked until the blood vessels in their eyes burst while one said the YouTuber once texted her saying ‘I love raping you’.

The ruling comes after Tate and his brother Tristan (left) appeared at the court on Tuesday , seeking an end to the restrictions imposed on him after he won an appeal last month to be released from house arrest

Tate denies the allegations and has threatened to pursue them for defamation.

Of the four women, three went to the police at the time but following a four-year investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service did not bring a charge.

The women now believe a civil case is their only option, according to The Sunday Times. They reportedly plan to sue Tate for personal injury and physical harm.

The claim is set to be made within the coming weeks.

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