VIDEO | Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate find out today if they will be released or remain in custody. DIICOT opposes the release, the lawyer claims that there is no evidence for the prosecutors’ accusations
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Remanded in custody for 30 days and accused of setting up an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape, brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate will find out today whether the Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB) judges will decide to release them or keep them in custody.
Eugen Vidineac, the Tate brothers’ lawyer, challenged the preventive arrest, saying (more details HERE) that the prosecutors of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have no evidence to support the charges and that the whole case is based only on the testimony of one of the victims, a woman from the Republic of Moldova.
The Tate brothers had their status changed from witnesses to suspects and from suspects to defendants on the evening of December 29, 2022, until which date they had the status of witnesses, so they would not have had the opportunity to study the prosecution file.
They were detained when the DIICOT prosecutor informed them of their status as defendants and when the DIICOT prosecutor issued a detention order, said lawyer Eugen Vidineac, then – on December 30, at 2:00 pm – the deadline was set for discussing of the proposal to issue a preventive arrest warrant for a period of 30 days.
The first searches, in April 2022
DIICOT conducted the first searches in this case on April 11, 2022, when several computers, laptops and equipment were seized from the Pipera home of the Tate brothers.
On the same day, other locations in Ilfov County were also targeted, and the searches took place after the US Embassy in Bucharest had notified the Police about the fact that a young woman with American citizenship was being held by force in a villa owned by the two Britons. She was allegedly lured into Romania by the famous „loverboy” method, used by many human traffickers, and then forced to do videochat.
The Tate brothers are accused by the DIICOT prosecutors, they are accused that, in 2021, „they constituted an organized criminal group with a view to committing the crime of human trafficking on the territory of Romania, but also in other countries, such as the United States of America and Great Britain „.
” They were later transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county where, by exercising acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and invoking alleged debts), they were sexually exploited by group members who forced them to perform pornographic demonstrations with a view to producing and disseminating material of such a nature through social media platforms and by submitting them to the execution of work, in a forced manner, in order to obtain important financial benefits consisting of the sums of money obtained as a result of accessing the pornographic materials by the users”, according to the DIICOT.
Lawyer, about the charge of rape: „There is no evidence, apart from the victim’s statement”
Among the accusations brought against the Tate brothers is the crime of rape, from the information obtained so far, it is the rape of a female person, from the Republic of Moldova.
” Two material acts are retained, for one of the Tate brothers”, said lawyer Eugen Vidineac, exclusively for Gândul, adding that – so far – „the prosecution file has not been made available to us in order to ensure the effective defense of our clients”.”.
”… I am somewhat astonished and, together with my colleagues, the distinguished lawyer Constantin Ioan Gliga and my other colleague, who are working on this case, we are working day and night to put together the puzzle of the elements of the accusations presented by the prosecutor – there is, at this moment, not a single piece of evidence, apart from the victim’s statement, that leads to the idea that a crime of rape was committed.
Moreover, fron the motivated conclusion of the judge of rights and freedoms of the Bucharest Court it is very clear that such a crime is not alleged and that there are no evidentiary elements to support this crime, which is why the judge of rights and freedoms does not have a reasonable suspicion that this offence could be held against any of the defendants”, the lawyer for brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate also stated.
10 properties of the Tate brothers, targeted and „seized” by DIICOT prosecutors
On 29 December 2022, the DIICOT prosecutors descended, once again, on the villa in Pipera belonging to the Tate brothers and on the video chat studio they own, and several items of evidence were seized from the buildings searched at the time, including computers used in the videochat business, laptops with databases and sums of money.
As a result of the investigations, prosecutors have seized no less than 10 properties belonging to brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, located in Bucharest, in Ilfov County, Prahova Valley and other counties. Investigators are also to establish how these properties were obtained and whether they were used by brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate for other criminal activities, which would have brought them large sums of money from the sexual exploitation of young girls, judicial sources told Gândul at the time .
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were also left without the eight luxury cars found by prosecutors in the yard of their Pipera villa, which are worth hundreds of thousands of euros.
Among the cars seized by DIICOT prosecutors are an Aston Martin Vanquish S Ultimate worth €250,000, a Rolls Royce Wraith Black Badge worth €360,000, a BMW X6 M worth €30,000 and a Lada 1500 which is worth approximately 10,000 euros. A Porsche Carrera 4S 911 992, which has a market value of 120,000 euros is also under seizure.
” Leaving the defendants free poses a danger to public order”
The judge of rights and freedoms considered that the release of brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate would represent „a danger to public order” (detailed information HERE).
Andrew and Tristan Tate have shown “a fundamental disregard for the social relationships protected by criminal law”. They had the „ability” to identify exactly the vulnerable people who could later serve their purposes, taking advantage – through a constant sentimental manipulation – of the victims’ needs for affection, trust, and stability.
” The judge of rights and freedoms holds that leaving the defendants in a state of freedom poses a danger to public order and that preventive detention should be ordered in order to remove that state of danger, considering the particular gravity of the offences committed by the defendants, the concrete manner in which they acted, demonstrating a fundamental contempt for the social relations protected by the criminal rules”, it is also shown in the conclusion of the hearing presented, exclusively, by Gândul.
”… notes the ability of the defendants (ed. – brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate) to identify vulnerable people and exploit their needs for affection, trust, stability, creating the impression of a close relationship and thus removing any suspicion that the victims could have, the need for attention and affection from the defendants being then exploited in order to induce them to engage into the activities described above. Nor can the contribution of the defendants (…), who carried out for the defendants the constant supervision of the victims, coordinated their daily work, and exerted psychological pressure on them to work as much as possible, be ignored.”
Extract from the conclusion of the meeting dated 30.12.2022 – Bucharest Court
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