BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — On Thursday, a court in Romania’s capital placed controversial internet influencer Andrew Tate under house arrest for 30 days. This decision comes as prosecutors investigate serious allegations involving human trafficking of minors and sexual relations with a minor.

The ruling from the Bucharest Tribunal followed the detention of Andrew Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan Tate, 36, along with four others, after masked police conducted raids on four homes in Bucharest and the nearby Ilfov county. Prosecutors had sought to keep the Tate brothers in custody for 30 days. Tristan has been given judicial control, which typically includes restrictions on where he can go and requires regular check-ins with police.

In response to the court’s decision, the Tate brothers’ spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, stated that the judge denied the prosecutors’ request because the brothers exhibited “exemplary behavior” while previously under preventive arrest in a different case. The Tates maintain that they are innocent of all allegations and are committed to proving their innocence.

Both Andrew and Tristan Tate are former kickboxers and hold dual citizenship in Britain and the U.S. They are already facing trial in Romania for a separate human trafficking case alongside two Romanian women. Romanian authorities formally charged all four individuals last year.

In this latest case, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, is looking into accusations of human trafficking, which includes the trafficking of minors, sexual relations with a minor, forming a criminal organization, money laundering, and tampering with evidence. The alleged offenses took place between 2014 and 2024.

DIICOT claims that the defendants employed the coercive “loverboy” technique to exploit 34 vulnerable victims, forcing them to create pornographic content for online payment. It is alleged that the defendants kept over $2.8 million (2.5 million euros) from these activities.

Additionally, DIICOT accuses an unidentified foreign man of sexually exploiting a 17-year-old foreign national and claims he retained all of the $1.5 million (1.3 million euros) earned from the illegal activities. The same man is said to have engaged in repeated sexual acts with a 15-year-old.

After the court’s ruling, Andrew Tate spoke to reporters, asserting that many of the alleged victims have provided statements supporting the Tate brothers. He described the situation as a “set-up” and praised the judge for seeing through what he called “bullshit” and allowing their release.

Andrew Tate, who has 9.9 million followers on the social media platform X, is notorious for his misogynistic remarks online. He has often claimed that prosecutors lack evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy aimed at silencing him. Previously, he was banned from several social media platforms due to his harmful views and hate speech.

DIICOT emphasized that throughout the criminal process, the accused individuals are entitled to their procedural rights and the presumption of innocence, as outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

During the police raids on Wednesday, authorities searched the Tate brothers’ sizable property near Bucharest and confiscated 16 luxury vehicles, a motorbike, laptops, large sums of cash, luxury watches, and data storage devices.

This recent case adds to the numerous legal challenges facing the Tates. After their arrest in December 2022, they spent three months in police detention before being placed under house arrest. They were later restricted to the municipality of Bucharest and nearby Ilfov county, then to Romania as a whole.

In April, the Bucharest Tribunal acknowledged that the prosecutors had sufficient evidence for a trial to begin but did not establish a start date. Last month, a court overturned a previous ruling that allowed the Tates to leave Romania while awaiting trial, stating they could only travel within the 27-member European Union.

In a separate matter, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in March after British authorities issued arrest warrants related to allegations of sexual aggression in the UK between 2012 and 2015. Although the appeals court approved the extradition request, it ruled that the Tates would only be sent to the UK after the legal proceedings in Romania concluded.

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McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.