Romania lifts legal restrictions on influencer Andrew Tate

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan arrive at the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Feb. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

A Romanian court has lifted all legal restrictions imposed on the influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, who are under investigation on suspicion of human trafficking, his defence team said Monday.

Tate’s lawyers provided AFP with a copy of the Bucharest court’s ruling, which “revokes the preventive measure of judicial control”.

Neither the court nor the prosecutor’s office replied to questions about the ruling, which also ordered the state to pay all legal costs.

Tate, 39, a self-described misogynist of dual British-American nationality, has nearly 11 million followers on the X platform alone.

Romanian police and prosecutors have been investigating the Tate brothers since 2022 over allegations they deceived several woman, some of them minors, to sexually exploit them.

Prosecutors say the two drew the women into seemingly genuine relationships before forcing them to take part in pornographic films.

Andrew Tate is also accused of rape.

The brothers were initially held in custody for several months. They were then released into house arrest before being subject to looser bail conditions that allowed them to travel abroad.

The Bucharest trial of the brothers has been delayed by procedural irregularities.

But the two also face investigations in other countries.

In March, British police said they had reopened an investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against Andrew Tate for a period covering 2014 and 2015.