McCue Jury & Partners, the legal firm representing the four British women who accuse Andrew Tate of rape and serious physical and sexual assaults, said in a statement they had urged British police to “immediately seek a warrant” for Tate’s detention and extradition after they received information last week that he might be planning to flee Romania.

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“Today’s news is very welcome as it had been a significant concern to many that Tate would seek to avoid justice in Romania and abroad,” said Matthew Jury, a managing partner at the law firm. “We are grateful to the British authorities for taking our concerns seriously and issuing an arrest warrant. Tate is accused of serious criminal offences against a large number of victims and he must be held accountable.”

Jury added that since Tate was arrested in Romania, he has “spread a vast amount of disinformation about the criminal charges he faces in the UK” in high-profile interviews with popular media figures such as Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan.

Tate lawyer Eugen Vidineac told journalists at the court on Tuesday that “as far as we know, this investigation was already closed, we don’t know if this investigation is re-opened, if there is any new evidence submitted by the authorities.”

Constantin Gliga, another lawyer representing Tate, said “we don’t have the necessary data” but noted that the court’s decision will help to “clarify the legal situation” in Romania. “After which we will see whether they will be handed over to the British authorities or not,” he said.

Tate, who has amassed 8.9 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and for hate speech.

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A post on Tate’s X account on Tuesday that read, “The Matrix is afraid, but I only fear God.” He uses the term “Matrix” to refer to what he sees as a wide-ranging conspiracy targeting men.

After their arrest in Romania, the Tate brothers were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to the areas of Bucharest Municipality and nearby Ilfov County. Currently, they cannot leave Romania. The legal case in Romania is still being discussed in the preliminary chamber stages, a process in which the defendants can challenge prosecutors’ evidence. No trial date has been set.

Last October, lawyers for the alleged abuse victims held a news conference in Bucharest in which they accused Andrew Tate and his followers of trying to intimidate their clients into silence.

In January, Tate won an appeal challenging the seizure of his assets by Romanian authorities, which were confiscated in the weeks after he was arrested.

Romanian authorities had seized 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in several currencies worth an estimated 3.6 million euros ($5.9 million).

AP

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