Washington [US], January 11: Romanian court ordered late on Tuesday that divisive internet personality Andrew Tate, his brother and two other suspects remain in Romanian police custody for a full 30 days pending a criminal inquiry into alleged human trafficking.
Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects were detained by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors on Dec. 29 on charges of forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit six women.
They have denied wrongdoing through their attorneys and challenged the 30-day arrest warrant. On Tuesday, the Bucharest court of appeals said it rejected the challenge as "unfounded".
"Prosecutors' arguments were that they have evidence. Naturally, our arguments were that there isn't evidence," IoanGliga, one of the defence lawyers, told reporters.
The first court to issue the arrest warrant cited the risk that the suspects could evade justice by leaving Romania for countries with which Bucharest has no extradition treaty.
Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship.
The victims were then taken to properties on the outskirts of the capital Bucharest and through physical violence and mental intimidation were sexually exploited by being forced to produce pornographic content for social media sites that generated large financial gains, according to prosecutors.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Coperation
