A trial in Romania for Andrew Tate, the online influencer who is facing criminal accusations involving human trafficking and sexual misconduct, will not go ahead, at least for now, after an appeals court sent an indictment back to prosecutors on Thursday.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal found that the indictment did not meet the requirements for the case to move to a trial. It was another setback for the prosecutors who had reworked the indictment after the court last month said there were issues over evidence and how the case was handled.
Judges with the Bucharest Court of Appeal said Thursday that they had identified issues in “the manner of presenting the facts and describing the constituent elements in the case” and that Mr. Tate’s right to defense had been violated.
The prosecutors in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear if they would continue pursuing the case.
Mr. Tate’s lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, called it a “significant legal victory” for Mr. Tate and his brother, Tristan, who is also a defendant in the case, along with two Romanian women.
In a statement shared through his spokeswoman, Mr. Tate again denounced the charges against him: “This is all a lie, and I will fight to the very end to expose it and prove my innocence.”
Mr. Tate, a British American influencer known for promoting an antagonistic brand of masculinity tied to displays of wealth and misogynistic views, is facing an array of criminal accusations in Romania and Britain. His legal team is fighting the accusations and terms of custody for Mr. Tate and his brother in a protracted battle that began after their arrest two years ago in Romania, where they had been living.
Romanian prosecutors had indicted Mr. Tate and his brother on charges of human trafficking and exploiting women. According to court documents, the investigators said that the brothers had forced several women to live in a compound and to appear in pornographic videos that were posted online.
Some details of the case are confidential, but Mr. Tate is also facing a rape charge, according to an official in the prosecutors’ office.
The brothers have been held under house arrest on and off since 2022. In March, the Romanian authorities arrested the Tates again after Britain said it was pursuing them over separate accusations related to sexual crimes and exploitation in that country. A Bucharest court ruled soon afterward that they would be extradited to Britain to face those charges after legal proceedings conclude in Romania.
In Britain, the Tates were dealt a blow this week when a court ruled that more than £2 million ($2.5 million) of their frozen assets would be forfeited under tax evasion laws. Authorities had accused the Tate brothers of not paying taxes £21 million in earnings ($26 million) from 2014 to 2022. The brothers had spread the money over several accounts, which were used to launder the money and avoid paying tax, the ruling said.
Mr. Tate assailed the decision, calling it “a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system.”
The brothers, through their lawyers and posts online, have denied all the accusations against them and have claimed that authorities are persecuting them for their wealth. The accusations in Britain, Mr. Tate’s spokeswoman, Mateea Petrescu, said, were related to an arrest made between 2012 and 2013 over allegations of sexual aggression, and had been dismissed by the Crown Prosecution Service. The details behind the new arrest warrant were unclear.
In the Romania case, a preliminary chamber in April had approved it to proceed to trial. The brothers successfully appealed to the Bucharest Court of Appeal to change parts of the indictment, including some pieces of evidence and witness statements.
In a separate case, Romanian authorities are investigating the brothers over new accusations of human trafficking and money laundering, according to Ms. Petrescu. Romanian prosecutors confirmed in August that they had issued search warrants in connection with the new accusations, which include trafficking of minors.
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