Controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.
A Romanian court said on Friday that the former kickboxer will remain in prison for another 30 days.
This followed an application from prosecutors in a Bucharest court on Friday for Mr Tate’s detention to be so extended.
Mr Tate, a former professional kickboxer, and his brother Tristan were detained on Thursday for an initial 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organised crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest.
“Anti-organised crime prosecutors have notified the rights and liberties judge with the Bucharest Court with a proposal to remand the four suspects for 30 days,” the prosecutors said on Friday.
The brothers declined to comment on Thursday, but their lawyer confirmed they had been detained.
Prosecutors said the Tate brothers had been under criminal investigation since April.
“The four suspects... appear to have created an organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” prosecutors said in a statement late on Thursday.
“They would have gained important sums of money.”
Prosecutors said they had found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects.
Mr Tate and his brother have been under investigation since April alongside two Romanian nationals. He moved to Romania five years ago.
Footage circulated widely on social media appears to show Mr Tate and his sibling being led away from a luxury villa.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism earlier issued a statement, but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a criminal group focused on human trafficking.
It also released a video of the raid, showing guns, knives and money on display in one room.
Mr Tate gained notoriety for misogynistic comments and hate speech. He has said women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men.
A number of social media platforms banned him, including Twitter, but his account there became active again in November, after the platform was taken over by Elon Musk. In one of his tweets following his return to the platform Mr Tate said he was flying to California to tell Musk he was “a legend”.
He appeared to have sent a tweet on Friday, suggesting he had access to his phone and social media while in custody.
Earlier in the week, Mr Tate sparked a war of words with climate activist Greta Thunberg (19) when he shared a picture of himself standing next to a Bugatti and claimed he owned 33 cars.
“Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions,” he tweeted, tagging Ms Thunberg.
She replied: “Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com”
Mr Tate, a former contestant on the UK reality show Big Brother, operates the “Hustler’s University”, which claims to have over 160,000 users who pay a subscription to learn about topics such as cryptocurrencies, investing and business.
He gained notoriety in 2016 when he was removed from the show over a video that appeared to show him hitting a woman with a belt.
In 2017, he was banned on Twitter for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. – Reuters/AP