Andrew Tate has appeared at prosecutors’ offices for a second day as forensic searches of his confiscated digital devices continue, an official said.
The 36-year-old divisive influencer, a British-US citizen with nearly five million Twitter followers, is suspected of being involved in human trafficking and part of an organised crime gang.
His brother Tristan and two Romanian women are detained in the same case.
On Thursday morning, the Tates – handcuffed together – were escorted by police into the Bucharest offices of the country’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (Diicot), where mobile phones and laptops are being scrutinised by experts.
Diitcot spokeswoman Ramona Bolla said it is taking time to go through the “multiple devices” seized.
As the brothers arrived at the offices, Tristan Tate told reporters: “What evidence is there? There is none. That should be the story. Please cover that story. The police have fabricated the evidence. There is no evidence. There is no victim.”
Andrew Tate told reporters as he left on Wednesday: “There is no evidence in my file because I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Both siblings will remain in detention until late February after a judge on Friday granted a request to extend their detention by 30 days for a second time.
An online petition launched on January 22 to “free Andrew and Tristan Tate from unjust imprisonment” claims “the judiciary, prosecutor and Diicot have acted unfairly in their detention of the Tate brothers”.
There is no light without dark.
Advertisement— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) January 25, 2023
It has 52,000 signatures.
Andrew Tate’s Twitter following has increased by at least several hundred thousand since he was arrested in December.
The former professional kickboxer, who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
After the Tates and women were arrested, Diicot alleged it had identified six human trafficking victims subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and sexually exploited by the members of a crime gang.
The agency said victims were lured with pretences of love but later intimidated, kept under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for substantial financial gains.
Earlier in January, Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest and towed away luxury cars including a blue Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a Porsche.
They reported seizing assets worth about £3.15 million.
Prosecutors have said if they can prove the owners gained money through illicit activities such as human trafficking, the assets will be used to cover the probe’s expenses and compensate victims.
Tate unsuccessfully appealed the asset seizure.
