A Romanian appeals court has found in favor of influencer Andrew Tate this week, who is facing multiple charges in Romania, including human trafficking and rape.
On Tuesday, the Bucharest Court of Appeal accepted Tate’s appeals and those of Tristan Tate, Manuela Naghel, and Luana Radu in their case against the Bucharest Tribunal’s decision to advance their case to trial. The court cited significant irregularities in the prosecution’s case and violations of the defendants’ legal rights.
However, in the wake of the decision, misleading claims began appearing on social media, overstating the outcome of the appeal court’s ruling.
Andrew Tate talks to the media outside the Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on October 15. Reports that the case in Romania against Tate had been dismissed are false.
Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images
The Claim
Multiple posts on X, formerly Twitter, posted on November 19, 2024, claimed that Andrew Tate’s human trafficking case had been dismissed.
A post on X by Sulaiman Ahmed, viewed 414,000 times, said: “BREAKING: The Tate brother’s case has just been officially dismissed! DIICOT was proven guilty of creating FAKE EVIDENCE against the Tate brothers! Congratulations! @Cobratate @TateTheTalisman.”
Another post by Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis viewed 86,000 times, included the same message as Ahmed, adding “People who knows the brothers told you this from the beginning!”
American political commentator Jackson Hinkle said in a post viewed 259,900 times: “BREAKING: The FAKE HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASE against Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) & Tristan Tate (@TateTheTalisman) has been DISMISSED. Congratulations GENTLEMAN!”
The Facts
These claims are inaccurate.
While the Bucharest Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of Tate, as reported by Reuters from Bucharest, its ruling states that some evidence from the case file, including victim statements and witness testimonies from the Tates, both deemed inadmissible, should be removed.
The indictment file contained inconsistencies, improper descriptions of acts committed by female suspects, and missing details on the seizure of assets.
The court ruling states that the investigation office DIICOT has five days to fix these irregularities and decide whether to send the case to trial or withdraw it.
While Tate’s lead attorney said that the court had decided to exclude “key evidence” that demonstrated “the lack of substantiated claims against them,” the claim that the case has been dismissed entirely is presumptive.
Newsweek reached out to DIICOT and representatives for Andrew Tate via email for comment.
The Tate brothers were arrested in Bucharest by Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, in December 2022. They have been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with Romanian prosecutors, including fighting home detention and celebrating when their luxury goods seized during DIICOT raids were returned.
Along with allegations of human trafficking, including trafficking minors, DIICOT is also investigating alleged crimes of engaging in sexual acts with a minor, forming an organized criminal group, money laundering, and tampering with statements.
The alleged offenses occurred between 2014 and 2024.
Along with the charges in Romania, Tate is the subject of a civil lawsuit by four women in the United Kingdom who accused him of multiple crimes against them between 2013 and 2016, including rape, physical violence and coercive control. Tate denied the claims in the lawsuit.
In March, the Tate brothers were issued with a U.K. arrest warrant for allegations of “sexual aggression” between 2012 and 2015, but it is not known if they relate to the same claims in the civil lawsuit. They again claimed their innocence and slammed a Romanian court’s decision to allow them to be extradited to the U.K. once their criminal trial in Bucharest had concluded.
The Ruling
False.
The case has not been dismissed. The investigations office DIICOT has been given five days to fix irregularities in its indictment and say whether it plans to withdraw or send the case to trial.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
