Police raid Andrew Tate's home in Romania as new allegations emerge involving minors

Masked police officers in Romania have carried out fresh raids at Andrew Tate ’s home.

The self-described misogynist and controversial influencer is awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies.

Romania's anti-organised crime agency DIICOT said it was searching four homes in the counties of Bucharest and nearby Ilfov, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering.

The agency added that hearings will later be held at its headquarters.

Mr Tate's spokesperson Mateea Petrescu said in response to the raids that "although the charges in the search warrant are not yet fully clarified, they include suspicions of human trafficking and money laundering" and added that his legal team is present.

Dozens of police officers and forensic personnel were scouring Tate's large property on the edge of the capital Bucharest on Wednesday.

"During the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence," DIICOT said.

Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan, 36, both former kickboxers, were arrested in 2022 near Bucharest along with two Romanian women.

Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year. They have denied the allegations.

In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that the prosecutors' case file against the four met the legal criteria and that a trial could start but did not set a date for it to begin.

Last month, a court overturned an earlier decision that allowed the Tate brothers to leave Romania as they await trial.

The earlier court ruled on July 5 that they could leave the country as long as they remained within the 27-member European Union.

In March, the Tate brothers also appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case, after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a UK case dating back to 2012-2015.

The appeals court granted the request to extradite the Tates to the UK, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

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