Andrew Tate Loses Appeal To Reverse Asset Seizures In Romania

A Romanian court rejected controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate's appeal against asset seizures Wednesday, the latest in an investigation inspired by charges of organized crime and human trafficking.

Tate, 36, is a British-American former champion kickboxer, internet entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed misogynist. He was arrested on Dec. 29 in Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.

In a hearing at the Bucharest Tribunal Wednesday, Tate lost an appeal seeking to block prosecutors' seizure of his assets, according to the Romanian anti-organized crime agency Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), according to the Associated Press.

The court "decided that the seizures are legal and [that] the goods remain at our disposal," DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla told the AP.

In an earlier hearing on Tuesday, a Romanian court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge's earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. Romanian prosecutors are said to be investigating Tate for allegedly recruiting and detaining women to produce pornographic videos, distributed via sites like OnlyFans.

Prosecutors investigating Tate have so far seized 15 luxury cars and more than 10 properties and land owned by companies registered to him and his brother, according to DIICOT. If prosecutors can prove the Tates gained money through illegal maneuvers, the assets "could be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and compensation for victims," according to the AP report, citing DIICOT.

Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested two days after Andrew tried to troll climate activist Greta Thunberg in a tweet boasting about his fleet of 33 cars.

"Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions," he wrote in an attempt to goad the teen into a response.

Thunberg responded by delivering a direct blow to Tate's ego saying, "Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com."

Tate subsequently responded to Thunberg in a video posted on Twitter, in which he ate pizza from a box labeled Jerry's Pizza, a Romanian restaurant chain. Though rumors circulated, reports have confirmed that Romanian authorities did not use the video as an aid to track down the Tates.

Adrew Tate, who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, rose to fame in 2016 as a guest on the British reality show "Big Brother." He drew criticism for homophobic and racist comments made on Twitter, which banned him in 2017.

Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in a $44 billion deal, reinstated Tate's Twitter account in November, as well as thousands of others who had been banned.

In 2022, Andrew Tate was banned by multiple major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch, for violating their policies against hate speech.

In a post that led to his 2017 Twitter ban, Andrew Tate wrote, "[I]f you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare [sic] some responsibility. I'm not saying it's OK you got raped. No woman should be abused regardless. However with sexual assault they want to put zero blame on the victim whatsoever."

Andrew Tate's popularity boomed in 2022 when videos of him circulated throughout TikTok showing him expressing extremely misogynistic views while giving relationship advice to men.