The case of brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate is once again before the magistrates of the Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB). The appeal against the decision to extend the pre-trial detention of the Tate brothers and the two Romanian women who were allegedly their accomplices, ordered by the Bucharest Court on the 20th of January, will be heard on Wednesday morning at the CAB (Bucharest Court of Appeal).
UPDATE 18:00 – The Tate brothers remain in prison, along with the two Romanian women who were allegedly their accomplices
The Bucharest Court of Appeal has rejected the appeal against the decision to extend the pre-trial detention of the Tate brothers – Andrew and Tristan – and of the two Romanian women who were allegedly their accomplices, Georgiana Naghel and Luana Alexandra Radu.
Also, the judges oblige the appellants to pay the sum of 500 lei each, representing legal expenses to the state.
UPDATE 12:00 – Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate left CAB
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate left the Bucharest Court of Appeal on Wednesday around 12:00.
The judges remained in judgment in the case of the appeal filed by the two British millionaires regarding the extension of the preventive detention.
UPDATE 09:20 – Famous lawyer Tina Glandian, who represented Mike Tyson and Chris Brown, will defend the millionaires
The Tate brothers are desperate to get out of custody. To that end, they’ve hired the famous lawyer, Tina Glandian. She has represented several American celebrities in court, including Mike Tyson and Chris Brown.
„Tina Glandian has joined our team. We have put together a global team, given the global dimension of this case.
We have complete confidence in the judicial system in Romania that it will provide an honest and fair investigation, but we have put together a very close-knit team, which works as a well-oiled mechanism.”, said Mateea Petrescu, communications director in the Tate case.
Tina Glandian is known as the „celebrity advocate” in the US.
UPDATE 08:50 – Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived at CAB (Bucharest Court of Appeal)
Andrew and Tristan Tate were brought to the Bucharest Court of Appeal on Wednesday at around 08:50. They were escorted by several police officers.
„You know I’m innocent,” Andrew Tate said after getting out of the police van.
The two alleged accomplices were brought in with the two men. They are Georgiana Naghel and Luana Alexandra Radu.
INIȚIAL NEWS
On the 20th of January, at the request of the prosecutors, the Bucharest Court extended the existing preventive arrest warrants for Andrew and Tristan Tate for another 30 days, from the 29th of January to the 27th of February.
The decision was challenged by the lawyers of the two British brothers and the case was heard on Wednesday at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The magistrates of this court are still deliberating and will decide whether to release them or whether they will continue to be remanded in custody.
Magistrates of the Court of Appeal are due to consider the issues in the case and determine whether they pose a danger to society and thus remain behind bars until at least the 27th of February.
The decision of the Court of Appeal will be final, so if they are successful, Andrew and Tristan will be released immediately.
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, together with Georgiana Naghel and Luana Alexandra Radu, were issued their first preventive arrest warrants on the 30th of December 2022, after they had been detained by DIICOT prosecutors the day before, following searches of their villa in Pipera and their videochat studio.
On the 20th of January, at the request of the prosecutors, the Bucharest Court extended their preventive arrest warrants for another 30 days, from the 29th of January to the 27th of February.
The DIICOT prosecutors succeeded in convincing the judge at the Bucharest Court to extend the Tate brothers’ arrest warrants, arguing that, left free, they „could exercise psychological control over the victims”.
The prosecutors also say that brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate could flee Romania if released from custody. In this context, the DIICOT prosecutors made use of an earlier statement by one of the two eccentric millionaires, in which he indicated that he had accounts in 19 countries around the world and could fly using several passports.
„If I’m wrong and England wants me in jail, I can fly with a Nigerian or American or English or Polish or Estonian passport. I have bank accounts in 19 countries,” prosecutors quoted the statement of one of the Tate brothers in their report.
The arguments and evidence presented by the DIICOT prosecutors convinced the Bucharest Court to extend their preventive arrest warrants for another 30 days, and the judge considered that their release „would create real risks for the proper conduct of the criminal trial”.
Andrew and Tristan Tate are accused of „establishing an organized criminal group with a view to committing the crime of trafficking in human beings on the territory of Romania and other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom”.
„The victims were then transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county where, through acts of physical violence and psychological (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and the allegation of debts), were sexually exploited by members of the group by being forced to engage in pornographic acts with a view to producing and disseminating such material via social media platforms and by being forced to perform forced labor in order to obtain significant financial benefits consisting in sums of money obtained as a result of users accessing the material”, according to the DIICOT.