On Thursday, Romanian prosecutors said they detained divisive internet personality and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group.
Tate, banned from many social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, and his brother Tristan will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organized-crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest.
The Tate brothers have been under criminal investigation since April.
They declined to comment, but their lawyer confirmed they had been detained.
“The four suspects … appear to have created an organized crime group to recruit, housing, and exploit women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost,” prosecutors said.
“They would have gained important sums of money.”
Prosecutors said they had found six women who the suspects had sexually exploited.
Tate has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.
Earlier this week, climate activist Greta Thunberg told the British national to get a life on Twitter after he told her he owned 33 cars with “enormous emissions.”