Controversial influencer Andrew Tate will not be getting his seized luxury cars or Romanian properties back anytime soon after a court ruled on Monday that they will remain with investigators.
Tate and his brother, Tristan, had about $12 million worth of assets seized by Romania's organized crime unit, DIICOT, earlier this year after they were charged with multiple crimes.
The Tates' representatives confirmed to Newsweek they plan to appeal the decision, but declined to comment further.
DIICOT arrested the brothers and two Romanian women in December 2022 on charges for human trafficking, forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women and tampering with evidence. Andrew Tate faces two charges of rape. All four have claimed their innocence.
On Monday, a Bucharest court ruled the multiple assets will remain in the hands of authorities. The assets include 15 blocks of properties in and around the Bucharest area, 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, and metal. It was not made clear what the metals were.
They also confiscated shares held within four commercial companies.
Tristan's girlfriend and model Abigail Tyson also requested for her property to be released, but was denied, according to the ruling. The trio have 48 hours to appeal the decision. Tyson's home in Bucharest was raided in January as part of DIICOT's investigations, but she has not been accused of any crime.
According to the Monday ruling, Tyson is the representative of the Ground Breaking Development SRL corporation, which owns one of the buildings seized. It is described as a "construction style building" in court papers, which also stated that the corporation was formerly called Emory Andrew Tate and Sons.
The latest update in Andrew Tate's ongoing criminal case comes just weeks after his and Tristan's bail conditions were changed and he was granted permission to travel outside of Bucharest.
They were kept in jail for almost three months before being released into house arrest, but when they were eventually released from that, they had to meet certain conditions, including regularly reporting to authorities and gaining permission to travel outside Bucharest and its Ilfov County.
While they can now travel freely through Romania, they must still check in with police.
Andrew Tate is also facing a civil lawsuit by four women in the United Kingdom who have accused him of multiple crimes against them between 2013 and 2016, including rape, physical violence and coercive control. He has also denied these claims.
He rose to infamy as a social media influencer and providing courses to men to increase their wealth and masculinity. But the British-American has also become a divisive figure for his controversial comments about women.
Andrew Tate started his public life as professional kickboxer, but became more well known after appearing on reality show Big Brother U.K. in 2015 and for what some deemed were misogynistic statements. He was eventually removed from the show after a video shot before he entered the Big Brother house was leaked and showed him hitting a woman with a belt. Tate claimed the sexual act was consensual.
Update 12/11/23, 11:13 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include additional information.
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