Andrew Tate house arrest order lifted by court in Romania

14 January 2025, 13:26 | Updated: 14 January 2025, 15:16

Andrew Tate has had a house arrest order lifted by a Romanian court.

A spokesperson for Tate said on Tuesday that the court replaced the order with a lighter preventative measure pending the outcome of a criminal investigation into the influencer.

Tate is now required to check in with police at regular intervals, is not allowed to contact other suspects or witnesses in his case, and cannot leave Romania.

His spokesperson said: "This ruling marks a decisive step forward, granting [Tate] the freedom to travel throughout Romania while adhering to the required legal conditions."

The 38-year-old was placed under house arrest in August last year after prosecutors started a second criminal investigation against him, his brother Tristan Tate, and four other individuals.

The six are accused of forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. All deny the charges.

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Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, grew up in Luton and have millions of social media followers. The older brother also appeared in the UK version of Big Brother in 2016.

Self-described misogynists, their views - which are often widely shared on social media platforms such as TikTok and X - have been heavily criticised, particularly as they have a predominately young, male audience.

The Tate brothers were first arrested in Romania in December 2022, alongside two Romanian women.

In June 2023, they were charged with forming an organised crime group and trafficking women across Romania, the UK, and the US from 2021.

According to court papers, seven women say they were falsely led to believe they were entering into a relationship with the brothers.

They say they found themselves in a compound in Bucharest where they were then forced to appear in pornographic videos that were uploaded online.

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A first criminal case against Tate failed in December when the Bucharest court of appeals ruled not to put Tate on trial, instead sending the case back to prosecutors over flaws in the indictment.

A British court ruled in March that the Tate brothers are also under a European arrest warrant and will be extradited to the UK after Romanian trial proceedings finish for a separate investigation.

(c) Sky News 2025: Andrew Tate house arrest order lifted by court in Romania