Andrew Tate: Four more luxury cars seized ahead of court appearance next week
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Romanian authorities have seized four more luxury cars as part of an investigation into social media influencer Andrew Tate ahead of a court appearance next week.
The former professional kickboxer turned controversial online personality, 36, and his brother Tristan, who grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire, were detained in the country last week as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation.
On Friday, an official said prosecutors investigating the case had seized another four vehicles on Thursday, after 11 cars were taken in raids.
At least seven of the seized cars are registered to the Tate brothers.
More than 10 properties or land owned by companies registered to them have also been seized, which would be used to pay for the investigation and pay damages to victims if they are convicted, Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romanian anti-organised crime agency DIICOT said.
A statement from DIICOT, which did not name the Tates, said two British citizens and two Romanians were suspected of being part of a criminal group focused on human trafficking.
They are expected to appear in a Bucharest court next week to have their appeals heard against a judge’s decision to extend their arrest warrants from 24 hours to 30 days, DIICOT said.
The Tate brothers will also appeal against the seizure of some of their belongings.
Tate appeared to deny the accusations, suggesting after his arrest he had been captured by Matrix agents.
According to DIICOT, six injured people have been identified in relation to the investigation, one of whom is said to have been violently sexually assaulted in March.
Some of the suspects allegedly used the “loverboy” method of trafficking, which involves a man luring a victim into a relationship in order to sexually exploit them later.
The victims were transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county, which surrounds Bucharest, where they were coerced into making pornographic content, it is alleged.
DIICOT released a video of the raid showing guns, knives and money on display in one room.
