Court orders return of cars confiscated from Tate brothers in Romania
Lawyers for Andrew and Tristan Tate confirmed on Tuesday, October 1, that the court ordered the return of cars worth over EUR 4 million confiscated from the two, News.ro reported. The cars include two McLarens, four Ferraris, a Maybach, a Maserati, and a Lamborghini Huracan.
The two brothers were placed under house arrest in August pending a second investigation on accusations of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, and money laundering.
Romanian prosecutors at DIICOT allege that, along with members of a criminal group formed around them, the brothers recruited 34 women starting in 2015 and forced them to produce pornographic materials, which they distributed for a fee online.
"The material gains obtained from the sexual exploitation of the victims were estimated at over USD 2.8 million dollars and 887,000 tokens," DIICOT said, cited by News.ro.
One of the Tate brothers is suspected of obtaining USD 1.5 million from the exploitation of a young woman, a foreign citizen who was 17 years old when she was recruited. The same defendant was charged with repeatedly engaging in sexual relations with a 15-year-old minor victim starting in December 2020.
The two brothers are also suspected of using intimidation to force the exploited women either to not testify or to provide false statements.
"In order to conceal or disguise the illicit origin of the money obtained from human trafficking, between December 2023 and July 2024, the two defendants purchased and registered four luxury cars in the names of close associates. Additionally, they undertook blatantly intimidating actions and acts of bribery toward some victims and witnesses to prevent them from testifying or to induce them to give false statements in the current case," DIICOT stated.
As part of the case, authorities seized the shares in five companies owned by the brothers, the companies' bank accounts, and four cars belonging to those companies. Additionally, 11 plots of land in Brașov and Ilfov counties, along with constructions on five of them, valued at over EUR 2.5 million, were also seized. In total, seizures were placed on 16 luxury cars and a motorcycle.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)
