The arrest comes after Tate, a self-proclaimed “absolute misogynist,” engaged in a Twitter confrontation with the Swedish environmental activist.
The controversial ‘influencer’ and British-American ‘ex-kickboxer’ Andrew Tate has been arrested in Romania on charges of human trafficking, sexual abuse and formation of an organized crime group, the country’s Prosecutor’s Office reported Thursday.
Tate, 36, along with his brother Tristan and two other Romanian suspects, will be detained for 24 hours for questioning, communicated the Directorate of Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism of Romania.
“The four suspects […] appear to have created an organized crime group for the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content intended to be viewed on specialized websites for a fee,” the agency stated.
According to investigators, the suspects used the “lover method” to lure their victims into relationships and then sexually and mentally abused them into participating in exploitative videos.
Prosecutors said the brothers have been under criminal investigation since April and a total of six women have been identified as having been sexually exploited by the suspects.
Controversy with Greta Thunberg
The arrest comes after the controversial internet guru staged a clash on Twitter with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, with whom he shared a photo of himself next to a Bugatti.
“Please provide me with your email address so I can send you a full list of my car collection and its huge emissions,” Tate tweeted, tagging the Swedish activist.
Thunberg’s response went viral: “Yes, please enlighten me,” adding a provocative fake email address mocking him.
Tate reacted by posting a video which, according to the Romanian authorities, was key to carrying out the capture operation, since in the recording the ‘influencer’ ridiculed a Romanian pizzeria chain, Jerry’s Pizza, thereby confirming that he was in the country.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Andrew Tate first rose to fame after appearing in the British edition of ‘reality show’ ‘Big Brother’ in 2016, from which he was expelled after a video surfaced in which he beat a woman outside the program.
In 2017, he posted on Twitter that the women should be at home and that rape victims “are responsible” for their aggressionafter which the social network decided to permanently expel him from the platform.
Also, in a YouTube video, Tate described himself as “an absolute misogynist.” “I am realistic and when you are realistic, you are sexist. You can’t be grounded in reality and not be sexist,” he said.
