Andrew Tate will ring in the New Year in a Romanian jail cell as investigators look into claims he kept six women under house arrest ‘like prisoners’ is complete, a court decided.
The controversial social media personality and former kickboxer, 36, was arrested on Thursday alongside his brother Tristan, 34, and two Romanian women on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.
The conditions he will face behind bars at the Bucharest Police Detention Centre are a far cry from those of the high-rolling lifestyle he claims to enjoy.
Both Andrew and Tristan are being held in a shabby, cramped cell measuring 15 square metres which has a hole in the ground toilet set in an open cubicle that also doubles up as a shower.
A report on the state of the Romanian prison system by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment conducted earlier this year revealed unsettling truths about the living conditions inside jails and the treatment inmates suffer at the hands of guards.
Andrew Tate was arrested Thursday on suspicion of rape and human trafficking. On Friday a Romanian Court announced he will be remanded in custody for 30 days
Tate is being held in the Bucharest detention centre in a cell similar to this shabby, cramped cell measuring 15 square metres which has a hole in the ground toilet set in an open cubicle
The Bucharest detention centre in Romania housing Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan is pictured
Tate (pictured) is a prolific social media personality who boasts his lavish lifestyle online
The decrepit Bucharest detention centre was built in the 1960s during Romania’s communist era but was renovated in 2015 to improve conditions. It houses those accused of the most heinous crimes committed in Bucharest and has also held high profile politicians accused of corruption.
According to law, prisoners in Romania are entitled to an hour a day of ‘outdoor recreation’, access to adequate exercise equipment and books, and should be able to take on work opportunities and vocational placements.
But the Council of Europe’s report found that most prisoners remained locked in their cells for 23 hours a day in squalor.
‘Material conditions in all the prisons visited were generally poor, with cells dilapidated, lacking equipment (storage space, tables and chairs), and mattresses and bedding worn out and infested with bed bugs and cockroaches,’ the report said.
‘Many complaints were received about the very limited access to hot water as well as in respect of the insufficient in-cell heating in winter.
‘Moreover, sanitary facilities were often in a poor state of repair and detained persons were not provided with appropriate quantities of detergent and hygiene products.’
What’s more, the one hour of outdoor recreation afforded to prisoners typically takes place in a small space with little to no natural light.
‘Exercise in the open air lasted in general for only one hour per day and took place in yards which were usually small… surrounded by walls and enclosed by one or more layers of low-level metal grilles… and were partially covered by a plexiglass roof panel,’ the report read.
A judge at Bucharest Court House yesterday rejected Tate’s lawyer’s appeal to have him released from jail while investigations continued, meaning the brothers are set to spend up to 29 days in the Bucharest detention centre.
Two women arrested along with them, Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu are also sharing a cell in the same facility.
Tate and his group were visited by members of his security team today who delivered food and fresh clothes to them.
A member of the team, who did not want to be named, told MailOnline: ‘Andrew and his brother are sharing a cell as are the two women.
‘Andrew is keeping his spirits up and they are all confident that they will be cleared. Given the circumstances, he remains very positive. The conditions inside are not great and it’s not what any of them are used to.’
He added: ‘It’s quite cold in the detention centre as the heating system is vey old. But Andrew is confident that it’s just a matter of time before they will be released.’
The decrepit Bucharest detention centre was built in the 1960s during Romania’s communist era but was renovated in 2015 to improve conditions
The influencer moved to Romania to avoid police interference, where he hosts his webcam business. This Google Earth satellite image shows a bird’s eye view of his compound
The prolific social media personality, 36, was detained at his bolthole in Pipera, Voluntari, on the outskirts of Bucharest (pictured outside today)
Detainees in Romanian prisons are often subjected to brutal treatment, according to another Council of Europe report.
‘A considerable number of allegations of physical ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff were received… The report details several allegations of physical ill-treatment including sexual abuse by staff and raises serious concerns over the lack of recording of injuries by the health-care service and failures to investigate allegations effectively,’ a 2019 report read.
Even individuals who had not been convicted of a crime were liable to be mistreated by police, the Council of Europe claimed.
‘A large number of allegations of physical ill-treatment (many of which were corroborated by medical evidence) by police officers were received. The allegations consisted primarily of slaps, punches, kicks and baton blows inflicted by police officers against criminal suspects either at the time of the arrest or during questioning at a police station, apparently for the primary purpose of coercing a confession.’
The judge in Bucharest on Friday made his decision to detain Tate along with his brother and their personal assistants Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu, a former policewoman.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Tate’s representative Eugen Vidineac said they would appeal the decision to keep the influencer behind bars for the next few weeks.
Vidineac told reporters: ‘The court has issued an arrest warrant for 30 days. We’ve appealed it, the court will decide after the appeal what the final solution is.
‘We are not at a stage where guilt or innocence is proven, for now we only discuss preventive measures.’
A wood-panelled room with leather armchairs and desk chairs appears to be the room he recorded his widely mocked riposte to Greta Thunberg
Tate and his companions have been granted the right to appeal the decision and this is likely to be heard next week.
The group have not been formally charged yet, with police in Bucharest insisting that their investigation is continuing and that all four remain suspects.
The alleged criminal ring was arrested a day after Tate was roundly mocked online for a Twitter spat with Greta Thunberg.
Officials close to the case said Tate asked his employees to shadow his victims’ every move, forcing them to take part in online pornographic videos.
‘The abuse was physical and emotional. They were not allowed to leave the house without security and they were watched day and night,’ a Romanian judicial source told the Mail.
The prolific social media personality was detained at a £600,000 bolthole in Pipera, Voluntari, on the outskirts of Bucharest, on Thursday.
The ‘webcam king’ who claimed to be a ‘trillionaire’ was in fact living in a property he did not own at the end of a poorly-laid road.
Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Bucharest on Thursday
Tate’s Twitter account posted this morning, the day after his arrest: ‘The Matrix sent their agents’
The sprawling home, close to an airport runway, belongs to Talisman Enterprises SRL, which owned by a businesswoman Naghel Manuela.
The Tate brothers were the majority shareholders in Talisman Enterprises SRL until August this year when they sold it to Ms Manuela for an undisclosed sum.
Despite claiming to be a ‘trillionaire’ the company accounts for last year show a modest turnover of £344,000 with assets valued at £468,000 and debts of £732,000.
It is unclear whether the brothers rent the compound or are permitted to live there following the sale of the firm.
Sources close to the police investigation said that officers moved in on Tate’s compound yesterday because it was the first time that they knew that Andrew and his brother Tristan were both in Romania at the same time.
The authorities wanted to be certain that they arrested the brothers together, said the source.
Organised crime body DIICOT assigned their toughest prosecutor Rareș Petru Stan to the case.
Stan has previously taken down mafia bosses and drug dealers in Romania and now requires armed protection after receiving death threats from criminal gangs.
Since the beginning of 2021, the prosecution has been investigating the suspects and had already searched Tate’s villa in April.
The luxury Romanian compound which was raided by police yesterday was filled with guns, supercars and a chess board dedicated to his Grandmaster father
The influencer regularly showcases his lavish lifestyle at his concrete fortress, with a coterie of 33 supercars
Interior shots posted on his and his brother’s Instagram pages show a hi-tech security room with multiple live CCTV feeds and rolling news channels
So far six potential victims have been identified.
The suspects are said to have recruited and exploited women by coercing them into ‘forced labour… and pornographic acts with a view to producing and disseminating such material’ online to ‘obtain substantial financial benefits’.
Andrew and Tristan Tate are both dual-citizens of the US and UK. The brothers were born to an American father and British mother, and grew up partially in both countries.
Police said the two British suspects lured female victims using the ‘loverboy method,’ falsely professing their love and intention to marry them.
The victims were then allegedly transported to buildings in Ilfov county on the outskirts of Bucharest, where they were ‘sexually exploited’ and forced to perform in pornographic videos for dissemination on social media, the police statement said.
The content was then posted on the adult-only content platform Only Fans and the video-sharing site TikTok, with the brothers allegedly pocketing all the proceeds.
Investigators also claim one of the suspects raped a victim on two separate occasions in March 2022.
‘We have information based on what they said on social media, that one of the girls brought in up to €50,000 a month,’ said a source close to the investigation told the Mail. ‘They were given no money from what they earned.’