Andrew Tate, a controversial online influencer, has been jailed in Romania as part of an investigation into human trafficking and rape.
Mr. Tate, who was arrested alongside his brother Tristan, had his Bucharest, the capital, home searched.
The former kickboxer rose to prominence in 2016 after he was booted from the British reality television program Big Brother after a video appeared to show him assaulting a woman.
As a result of his statement that women should “carry responsibility” for sexual assault, he gained prominence online, and Twitter banned him. Since then, he has been reinstated.
Despite social media bans, he garnered fame, especially among young men, by advocating an ultra-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle, appearing in videos with his fleet of pricey sports vehicles, and private jets, and on extravagant vacations.
A representative for the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) stated that prosecutors had requested to keep the individual for an extra 30 days in a “detention center.” They stated that a court will rule on the case on Friday afternoon.
DIICOT said in a statement, “The four suspects appear to have constructed an organized crime gang with the intent of recruiting, housing, and exploiting women by forcing them to make pornographic content for specialized websites.”
Since April, the brothers have been investigated alongside two Romanian nationals.
Mr. Tate’s spokeswoman told the Daily Mirror that he was unable to disclose facts regarding the arrest. “However, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost regard for the Romanian authorities and will always cooperate in any way possible,” he continued.
A video widely shared on social media appears to show Mr. Tate and his brother being escorted out of a luxury villa.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) issued a statement, without naming the Tate brothers, indicating that two British individuals and two Romanian citizens were suspected of belonging to a human trafficking-focused criminal cell.
The statement indicated that authorities had identified six individuals who were “sexually exploited” by an “organized criminal group.” According to the police, the British nationals “recruited” the victims by misrepresenting their intention to pursue a romantic relationship with them, a technique known as “the loverboy approach.”
Later, they were threatened with violence and made to perform in pornographic content, according to the statement.
It also published a video of the raid, which showed guns, knives, and cash displayed in a single room.
Mr. Tate has lived in Romania for five years.
Online rumors circulated that police had been informed of Mr. Tate’s presence in the country after he posted a video targeting environmental activist Greta Thunberg. It is not thought that this is the case.
In the video he uploaded, he was handed a pizza box from a nearby restaurant, which several viewers speculated may have mistakenly disclosed his location to police.
The spat with Ms. Thunberg began earlier this week when Mr. Tate, 36, tagged the 19-year-old environmental activist in a post boasting about the “enormous emissions” produced by his fleet of automobiles.
About the online rumor, Ms. Thunberg tweeted following her arrest, “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”
Mr. Tate, a British citizen who was born in the United States, battled professionally as a kickboxer and won world titles before achieving global fame.
In 2016, he entered the Big Brother house but was quickly evicted after a video appeared to show him beating a female contestant with a belt.
At the time of his dismissal from the show, Mr. Tate claimed that the footage had been altered, describing it as “a complete fabrication designed to make me appear terrible.”
As a result of his statement that women should “carry responsibility” for sexual assault, he gained prominence online, and Twitter banned him.
Mr. Tate has been banned from social media networks such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and TikTok has also removed him because “misogyny is a terrible ideology that is not permitted.”
He had been banned from Twitter but was recently reinstated after Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform.
His articles on other online sites advocate bigotry and target women, garnering millions of views.
