Controversial social media influencer, Andrew Tate and his brother have appeared in court in Romania for a pre-trial hearing reportedly examining the status of their seized assets.
Tate and his brother Tristan attended a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday morning, February 1, at the Bucharest Tribunal that may have looked into the status of their seized assets, among other procedural matters.
However, the judge is said to have postponed the decision regarding the assets until February 29.
Last month Tate won an appeal challenging the seizure of his assets worth £ 10 million – which were confiscated by Romanian authorities in the weeks after he was arrested.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal overturned a decision to seize their assets in what Tate’s spokesperson described as a ‘significant’ ruling for the brothers.
Romanian authorities had seized 15 luxury cars including Porsches and Ferraris, 14 designer watches, cash in several currencies and several houses in Bucharest.
Romania’s anti-organized crime agency said at the time of the seizures that the assets could be used to fund investigations and for compensation for victims if authorities could prove they were gained through illicit activities.
Technically the assets remain seized until a reassessment and ruling is made meaning the Tate brothers will have to return to court for a decision on how much will be returned to them.
Describing last month’s ruling as ‘decisive’, Tate’s spokesperson told MailOnline in January: ‘This outcome marks a significant victory for Tate and a testament to the legal process.’
Eugen Vidineac, lead counsel for Tate, said at the time: ‘We salute the decision and applaud the judge for what we consider to be a legally correct and justified ruling.’
Tate’s sports cars – a monstrous fleet of three Porsches, two BMWs, two Ferraris, one Aston Martin, one McLaren, one Lamborghini, and five Mercedes – were seized as part of the investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation in 2022.
Other luxurious items seized by investigators include 14 luxury watches – two Hublot, three Patek Philippe, one Cartier, three Audemars Piguet, one Akribos, two Rolex, one Ulysse Nardin, and one Breitling – as well as several plots of land and houses in and around Bucharest.
One of the houses has eight bedrooms and spans 424 square metres, while the other has four bedrooms and spans 153 square metres, the source claimed.
This comes after Tate lost his court bid to ease the ban on him leaving Romania this week.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling by another court on January 18 which extended the geographical restrictions against Tate, 37, by 60 days, stipulating that he cannot leave Rumania.
Tate lost his appeal more than a year after he was first arrested near Bucharest on human trafficking and rape charges along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women, Luana Radu and Georgiana Naghel.
Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June last year and they have denied the allegations.
