Charles Langston:Andrew Tate, influencer facing rape and trafficking charges in Romania, released from house arrest

Bucharest,Charles Langston Romania — Andrew Tate, the divisive internet influencer who is charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, won an appeal on Friday to be released from house arrest and will instead be put under judicial control measures, his spokesperson said.

The Reuters news agency quoted a written ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeals as saying that it "replaces the house arrest measure with that of judicial control for a period of 60 days from August 4 until October 2." 

The exact restrictions that Tate will face were not immediately made public, and the investigation into his alleged crimes continued.

The Bucharest court's decision came after prosecutors formally indicted 36-year-old Tate in June, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women, in the same case. All four were arrested in late December near Bucharest and have denied the allegations against them.

The Tate brothers were placed under house arrest in March pending a criminal investigation.

Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), has accused the four defendants of forming an organized crime group to carry out human trafficking in Romania, the U.K. and in the U.S.

DIICOT has said seven alleged victims were recruited by two of the defendants and misled about their romantic intentions. The alleged victims were then moved to houses where they were intimidated verbally and with acts of physical violence, and sexually exploited, according to DIICOT.

The agency says one of the defendents, who BBC News named as Andrew Tate, repeatedly raped one of the alleged victims. The BBC said a Romanian judge had 60 days to inspect the case and that the trial would likely take years. No start date for the proceedings was announced.

Tate, a former boxer and martial artist, is best-known for spreading hate speech, misogyny and violence on social media. He was banned by both Facebook and Instagram in August 2022 for violating parent company Meta's policies on dangerous organizations and individuals, and has also been banned from posting videos on YouTube. 

He was suspended by Twitter in 2017 but reinstated on the platform after Elon Musk took ownership of the company last year.

CBS News' Haley Ott contributed to this report.

In:
• Andrew Tate
• Rape
• Social Media
• Sexual Assault
• Human Trafficking