Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania over human trafficking and rape charges, just two days after the self-proclaimed misogynist initiated an online feud with climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Tate was arrested along with his brother in Bucharest, Romania on Thursday, the brothers’ lawyer confirmed, Reuters reported.
The brothers have been under criminal investigation since April.
Prosecutors from Romania’s anti-organized crime unit said that Tate and his brother will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects.
“The four suspects … appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost,” the prosecutors said, as quoted by Reuters.
“They would have gained important sums of money.”
Six women were allegedly found to have been sexually exploited by the suspects, the prosecutors said.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) on Thursday issued a statement stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens have been arrested. The agency also posted a video of the suspects’ arrest.
Andrew Tate has been banned from most social media platforms for misogynistic comments until Twitter reinstated his million-follower account in November.
He was kicked out from Twitter in 2017 for saying that women “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. A statement he made during the height of the #MeToo campaign.
On Tuesday, Tate initiated a spat with Greta Thunberg, boasting about his cars’ enormous emissions. Thunberg’s reply to Tate, however, garnered over three million likes and over 600,000 retweets.
“Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com,” Thunberg clapped back.
Tate has gained attention in recent years largely due to his extreme statements such as comparing women to properties, graphically describing how he would assault a woman for accusing him of cheating and claiming that men would rather date 18- and 19-year-olds, according to an NBC News report.
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