Fact Check: Did Andrew Tate's Pizza Box Tip Off Romanian Police?

The Twitter spat between controversial influencer Andrew Tate and environmentalist Greta Thunberg has taken a dramatic turn after Romanian police arrested him and brother Tristan over sex trafficking claims.

The 36-year-old's home in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, was raided on Thursday, December 29, and he was detained alongside his brother Tristan, 34, and two Romanian nationals. The arrests came amid Andrew and Thunberg's online argument.

With the Tates facing the possibility of charges, civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo noted how Tate may have given up his location to police, all thanks to a pizza box that appeared in a video of him attacking Thunberg.

The Claim

A Twitter thread posted by Alejandra Caraballo, on December 29, 2022, noted how a pizza box that appeared in a video posted by Tate may have drawn authorities to his location.

"Romanian authorities needed proof that Andrew Tate was in the country so they reportedly used his social media posts," Caraballo tweeted.

"His ridiculous video yesterday featured a pizza from a Romanian pizza chain, Jerry's Pizza, confirming he was in the country.

"Not only did Greta Thunberg destroy Andrew Tate with her tweet, she made him so angry he inadvertently tipped off Romanian authorities of his presence in Romania with his lame comeback video. Greta is an absolute legend."

Caraballo's Twitter thread generated more than 600,000 engagements and was viewed over 64 million times in less than 24 hours.

The Facts

Claims that Tate was tracked down on a pizza box spread quickly online. One story on the website of established Romanian newspaper Adevarul included the headline: "The pizza box that would have led to Andrew Tate's detention in Romania."

Adevarul, noting the pizza box was from Bucharest pizzeria Jerry's Pizza, stated: "This is the moment in which the local authorities confirmed their suspicion and made a raid on Andrew Tate's house, which eventually led to his arrest."

However, the claim that the pizza box was used to confirm the location of Andrew, his brother Tristan, and/or two other individuals connected to investigations has since been disproven.

In a follow-up thread, Caraballo said she was led to believe the pizza box may have been relevant after reading a report by Romanian news site Gândul which (according to Caraballo) said authorities had moved to arrest the brothers "after seeing, including on social networks, that they were together in Romania".

Caraballo claimed she then went through social media posts from the brothers in the lead-up to the arrest, concluding that the only post with information indicating they were in Romania was the one with the pizza box.

"So that brings us to the pizza video response. The reason I settled on that is because it's the only post with a confirmed time and place that puts Andrew Tate in Romania in his home that could not be reposted content," she said.

"I think it's fair that people are criticizing me for jumping to conclusions. This is not confirmed by Romanian officials and I'm basing my assumption off a poorly Google translated article from Romanian reporting. However, I did the work and looked at his socials to check.

"Do I think that this was the defining piece of evidence for the police? Absolutely not. I do believe that it could have been used to easily place Andrew Tate at his home in Romania within a tight timeframe. It could also be verified by calling the pizza location."

While the Romanian Police and Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) did not respond to a Newsweek comment request, asking if this information was indeed used, it has since issued statements refuting the claim and clarifying the circumstances of the arrest.

Romanian prosecutors, in a statement Tuesday, December 29, which was shared with Newsweek, said that they identified six people who were recruited and then sexually abused in Ilfov county, including the capital, Bucharest.

Authorities said that the victims were coerced into participating in pornography for distribution on social media and that one of the suspects twice raped a victim in March, though the statement did not explicitly state their names.

A police press release sent to Newsweek earlier stated: "On December 29th, the policemen of the Bucharest Organized Crime Brigade, together with the D.I.I.C.O.T. – Central Structure prosecutors, organized an operative action, in a criminal case, in which investigations are carried out for the offenses of setting up an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape.

"Thus, 5 domiciliary search warrants were executed, in Bucharest and Ilfov County, at the houses owned by the suspects. All 4 persons for whom warrants were issued have been found and are to be taken to the D.I.I.C.O.T. headquarters, upon completion of the activities."

The statement went on to say that people were "transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov County where, by exercising acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant supervision, control and invoking alleged debts), they were sexually exploited by the members of the group... in order to obtain significant financial benefits."

The authorities later addressed directly the speculative posts about the pizza box being used as a clue; Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for DIICOT denied to The Washington Post that this played a role in the detention or its timing.

"It was a hard job gathering all the evidence" in the months-long investigation, Bolla told the U.S. publication.

Bolla told Associated France Press on Friday regarding the pizza box that "it's not related".

"To determine whether a person is in the country or not, we use a whole range of means," she said, stressing that "arrest warrants and searches" had already been in place.

The Associated Press also cited comments by Bolla rejecting the pizza box claim.

Newsweek has sent a follow-up comment request to DIICOT specifically regarding the pizza box query, but has not received a response.

Although the press release does not mention Andrew Tate by name, reports by Reuters, the BBC and The Guardian, state that the Tates' lawyer had confirmed their detention.

Romanian authorities investigated the brothers earlier this year. According to The Daily Beast, Romanian newspaper Gandul claimed a raid in April 2022 was sparked by reports "that an American woman was being held captive at the Tate house."

Speaking to The Daily Beast, U.S. State Department spokesperson said: "We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen held against their will in Romania," the spokesperson said. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."

Thunberg and Andrew Tate began sparring earlier this week after the influencer tweeted at the climate change activist about his car collection and their "respective enormous emissions."

Now among the most-liked messages in Twitter history, Thunberg responded: "yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com"

After news of his arrest and the reports about the pizza box, Thunberg tweeted: "this is what happens when you don't recycle your pizza boxes."

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department, Alejandra Caraballo, Greta Thunberg, a representative of Andrew Tate, and Jerry's Pizza in Bucharest for comment.

The Ruling

False.

The claim that a pizza box in a video of Andrew Tate criticizing Greta Thunberg led to his arrest in Romania has been refuted by investigating authorities.

While a Romanian news report suggested that authorities tracked down Tate via social media and that the box from a Bucharest pizzeria may have confirmed his whereabouts, information released since then by prosecutors indicate this theory was false.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team

Update 1/4/23, 5:19 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include the comments from the police and to change the Ruling from Unverified to False following a statement from the authorities.