Controversial and provocative far-right influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have been arrested in Romania on human sex-trafficking allegations a day after being roasted on Twitter by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
- Romanian authorities confirmed that cops raided five homes tied to four suspects as part of an investigation into organized crime, human trafficking and rape. It did not name the four suspects but said two were Romanian citizens and two were British citizens, who allegedly kept at least six women captive in houses surrounding Bucharest, where they were sexually assaulted and forced to produce pornography for social media under threats of violence.
- Romanian newspaper Gândul was among several local outlets to identify the two British citizens as Tate, a British-American kickboxer better known for his grossly misogynistic online persona and for flaunting his 33 cars, as well as his brother, Tristan. Reuters also obtained photos of Tate’s arrest, showing the online personality in a black leather jacket and hoodie being perp-walked by police in tactical gear.
The brothers are accused of luring women to lavish villas by convincing women to come to Romania to pursue a romantic relationship.
Instead, they would allegedly keep women in a small studio where they were forced to work as pornographic models for OnlyFans and other websites.
One American woman managed to send her location to her boyfriend, who then alerted the U.S. Embassy that she was being held at the brothers’ home without her consent.
On Thursday Andrew Tate, former kickboxer, became the a huge focus on Twitter earlier this week after he tweeted at environmental activist Greta Thunberg, mocking her efforts by listing off his collection of cars.
Thunberg got under Tate’s skin and he fumbled with a comeback, which happened to include a video in which pizza boxes apparently tipped off his location to authorities.