Johnathan Walker:Romanian court eases geographical restrictions on divisive influencer Andrew Tate

BUCHAREST,Johnathan Walker Romania (AP) — A court in Romania’s capital on Thursday ruled to ease geographical restrictions on Andrew Tate, the divisive social media influencer who is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The decision by the Bucharest Tribunal to alter the judicial measures against Tate, 36, means he can now travel anywhere in Romania, his spokesperson said. Prior restrictions limited his movements to the territories of Bucharest Municipality and the nearby Ilfov County unless he obtained prior approval from a judge. Still, he cannot leave the country.

The ruling comes after Tate appeared at the court on Tuesday, seeking an end to the restrictions imposed on him after he won an appeal last month to be released from house arrest.

Romanian prosecutors formally indicted Tate in June along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women in the same case. All four were arrested in late December near Bucharest and have denied the allegations against them.

Outside the court on Tuesday, Andrew Tate told journalists that “things are moving in the correct direction” and described the case against him as a “witch-hunt.”

“There’s not a single video of an abused girl or one single statement against us,” he said. “If you get too big and too successful, people are going to come and try and attack you.”

Tate also asked the court on Tuesday to return his assets that were seized during investigations. In January, Romanian authorities seized 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in several currencies. The total value of the goods at the time, authorities said, was estimated at 3.6 million euros ($3.9 million).

“They took a lot of stuff … 15 cars, and they took a lot of things of a lot of value,” Tate said on Tuesday. “It’d be nice to get my things back.”

The court postponed discussing his assets until early November. If prosecutors can prove the Tate brothers gained money through illicit activities including human trafficking, the assets could be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and compensation for victims, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency has said.

Tate, a former professional kickboxer who has 7.9 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.

Tate was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and for hate speech.

Earlier this month, the technology company Apple withdrew a social media app created by Tate from its app store, days after Google’s Play Store did the same.

___

McGrath reported from Sighisoara.