The custody of the controversial British influencer Andrew Tate and his brother has been extended again.
Romanian Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime (DIICOT) spokeswoman Ramona Bolla said a court in Bucharest granted her agency's request to extend their pre-trial detention until February 27.
The 36-year-old Tate and his brother Tristan, who is two years younger, were arrested in Romania at the end of December on allegations of human trafficking, rape and founding a criminal organization.
Minors are said to have been among their victims.
The magistrate had justified the imprisonment of the two brothers with the risk of absconding and the seriousness of the crimes they were charged with.
In addition to the Tate brothers, two Romanian women are also under investigation.
Attorney is confident
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were brought into court in handcuffs and dressed in black early Tuesday.
The brothers' lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, was initially confident and said there was "not a single piece of evidence" for the rape allegation.
The lawyer also denies the other charges.
Tate, who moved to Romania with his brother a few years ago, has been banned from several online services for misogynistic comments.
He wrote that women who are victims of sexual assault are to blame themselves.
Since the sale of the short message service Twitter to multi-billionaire Elon Musk, Tate has been allowed to use the platform again.
There he has 4.5 million subscribers.
Romanian investigators had been tracking Tate for some time.
At the beginning of 2021, they had already searched a celebrity villa, and there were further searches at the end of December.
Tate, who also has US citizenship, appeared on the TV show Big Brother in 2016.
However, he was banned from the show after a video surfaced of him hitting a woman.