According to attorneys for influencer Andrew Tate, a Romanian court on Friday prolonged his and his brother Tristan's arrest, meaning they will stay in police custody until the 27th of February.
Allegations of rape and human trafficking have been made against the brothers, who are the subject of an investigation.
Authorities in Romania have said that search warrants were executed at a total of five residences and that a total of four individuals, two Romanians and two Britons, were taken into prison as part of the investigation.
In an early statement, Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said that the four suspects had been held for twenty-four hours.
According to statements made by their attorney Eugen Vidineac on December 30, a court in Bucharest has granted DIICOT's request to continue holding Tate and his brother Tristan in jail for another thirty days. This has been extended one more to the 27th of February.
According to the allegations made by DIICOT, the four individuals under investigation were part of a larger criminal enterprise that operated across multiple countries, spanning from Romania to Britain and the United States, to engage in the illegal practice of human trafficking.
The agency announced the search of seven more houses as part of the investigation on the previous Thursday. This brings the total number of properties being investigated up to 12.
The authorities allege that two of the suspects deceived the victims "into believing that they intended to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship" while transporting victims to Romania and later sexually exploiting them with physical violence and coercion.
The authorities state that the victims were misled "into believing that they intended to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship."
In addition, the authorities claimed that one of the suspects sexually assaulted a victim on two different occasions throughout March 2022. A minimum of six victims are believed to have been "sexually exploited by the organized criminal gang," according to the statement released by DIICOT.
On Monday, Romanian officials said that throughout the previous week, they had taken possession of assets worth close to four million dollars that belonged to Tate.
According to the country's Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ANABI), the confiscated assets include motor cars, fancy watches, and quantities of money in a variety of currencies. In all, the agency reported seizing 29 items.
Tate, a man who used to compete professionally in kickboxing, is famous for his rants that went viral online about male superiority, feminine subordination, and riches.
Because of his open advocacy for violence against women, he was previously banned from all of the main social media platforms. However, once Elon Musk took control of the firm, he was allowed to reactivate his Twitter account.
Earlier this year, he surged to notoriety, and many adults, including school instructors, voiced concern that his sexist notions were taking root in the brains of many young boys. His TikTok account had built up over 11.6 billion views before it was suspended.
After he tweeted about his several automobiles "and their corresponding massive emissions," Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg ordered him to "get a life" and made him the subject of headlines in the week leading up to his arrest. This interaction led to Tate's arrest and subsequent media attention.
