Andrew Tate arrested in Romania. Image Source: NY Post 

Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate were apprehended in Romania.

According to numerous reports, Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer and social media personality, and his brother, Tristan Tate, have been detained in Romania for trafficking, rape, and trying to form an organized criminal group.

Andrew Tate rose to prominence in 2016 when he was kicked off the British reality show Big Brother after a video of him assaulting a woman with a belt surfaced. Andrew Tate claimed at the time of his expulsion from the tv series that the video had been modified, calling it a "total lie" meant to make him look really bad. He became a household name particularly among young men, by trying to promote an ultra-masculine, super lifestyle and making appearances in videos with his fleet of costly sports cars, private jets, and lavish vacations.

According to reports, the internet personality was captured in handcuffs from his Bucharest villa, Romania and it was reported that the suspects were detained for 24 hours after the raid on five homes. The detention suspects and their residences are linked to an investigation into alleged trafficking, a criminal organizations group, and rape, according to a press release from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism.

While the perpetrators were not named in the press statement, Andrew Tate's lawyer told Sky News that he and his brother Tristan Tate had been imprisoned. A spokesman for Andrew told the Daily Mirror they are unable to provide any details about accusation reports of their detainment at the moment; however, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the deepest respect for Romanian officials and will always help and offer any assistance they can.

Andrew Tate has denied allegations. Image Source: Fox 

One of the accused persons is a former policewoman, according to the Romanian daily newspaper Gândul. According to the newspaper, the inquiry into the group began in April after a complaint that a woman of American citizenship was being held forcefully at their residence. According to the news publication, several young women were found in a building about 500 meters from the Bucharest villa. Investigators learned that the American woman met Tristan Tate on social media and that he persuaded her to buy a plane ticket to Romania. The woman contacted her ex-boyfriend, who informed the US Embassy in Bucharest about the crime.

According to a Romanian daily newspaper, the investigators waited for the Tate brothers to return to Romania before detaining them, only trying to move after observing his social media appearances to ensure he was present in the country. The victims were enlisted by British citizens by mischaracterizing their desire to enter into a marriage or cohabitation relationship and the presence of legitimate feelings of love, following the press release, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) referred to this as the "loverboy method."

According to the press release, the survivors were misled into thinking they were going to enter into a marriage or cohabitation relationship before even being transferred to buildings in Ilfov County, the immediately surrounding Bucharest, where they were compelled to perform sexually explicit acts through physical and mental coercive power, which were then distributed through social media. Andrew Tate's old footage has gone viral on social media where he has said to the cameras that the matrix has attacked him as he was being led away by police. He famed refers to the powers that be within politics, the media, and big tech corporate entities as "the matrix," a reference to the popular science fiction film from 1999. A lawyer for Tate told NBC News that, as of publication, a judge had held the Tate brothers in custody for 30 days, which also meant they will either remain behind bars or be released on bail. According to the lawyer, his clients have appealed the decision and Tate claims to be innocent.

Andrew Tate got into a dispute with climate activist Greta Thunberg. Image Source: Sky News

Andrew Tate claimed on a now-deleted page of his website that he had become a multi-millionaire through his webcam studio in Romania. The Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive has a copy of the website page. He did write on the webpage that his task was to meet a girl, go on a few dates with her, sleep with her, test if she's quality,and get her to fall in love with him to the point where she'd do anything he said, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together. Andrew Tate's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on his website description.

Andrew Tate went on to become well-known online, with Twitter forbidding him from stating that women should "bear responsibility" for sexual assault. He was banned from social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as TikTok, which stated that misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not allowed to exist. He had been banned from Twitter but was recently resumed following Elon Musk's takeover. His posts on other websites encourage misogyny and target women and have millions of views, according to the BBC's deliberate misinformation and social media journalist Marianna Spring, who stated earlier this month that his material had raised concerns the about noticeable impact it could have.

This week, he got into a dispute with climate activist Greta Thunberg, boasting regarding his supercar collection and requesting Greta Thunberg's email address to send a comprehensive list of his collection of cars and their respective immense emissions. Greta Thunberg did respond with a Twitter post that has subsequently become one of the most popular in history, saying, "Yes, please do please educate me. Please reach out to me at smalld***[email protected]."