Law&Crime Sidebar - Judge Rejects Andrew Tate's Appeal: What’s Next for Tate Brothers?

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

A judge rejected the appeal by Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, of their arrest on allegations of organized crime and human trafficking. The Law&Crime Network's Angenette Levy breaks it down with Romanian-based attorney Stefan Loredan.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Appeals denied. A judge in Romania says former reality TV star Andrew Tate must remain in jail as the human trafficking case against him moves forward. Welcome back to Sidebar here on Law and Crime. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Andrew Tate, the former UK reality TV star and his brother will not be getting out of jail anytime soon. A judge denied their appeals to be released after another judge had earlier extended their arrest period. Tate and his brother Tristan and two other women face several charges related to human trafficking, including organized crime and rape. The judge said they could evade investigation and possibly flee and that's why they will remain. in jail. Joining me to discuss the decision is Stefan Loredon. He's a licensed attorney in Romania. Stefan, welcome back to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Always a pleasure. What is your thought, what are your thoughts initially on the appeal being denied? Is this any

type of surprise? No, no. This is not a surprise for me. In fact, I was predicting this in my other videos because I create content as well in regards to this case. It's not a surprise because it's very rare that once a court gives such a decision, it will be accepted, the appeal will be accepted later on, all right? So I guess we should discuss maybe a little bit about what are the next steps and where they will go from here with the case. Tell me what happens next as the case proceeds, because it sounds like it's still under investigation. Yes, yes. So obviously they're going to stay under arrest for the entire 30 days period until January 29th. That's when the 30 days period finishes. And after that, the prosecutor will come forward to the judge and he will propose one of the three

measures that I'm going to tell you about. The first measure is to extend the period with another 30 days. This will only happen if the prosecutor feels like he needs more time for the investigation to happen. The second option would be they will get home arrest for 30 days and the third option would be they will get a pretrial conditional release but they will have to come once or twice per week to sign a document at the police. So they make sure that they don't leave the country. And of course, they are not allowed to leave the country. So those are the next steps that could happen. And what is your opinion about whether or not, what option will come or what will be chosen as far as them possibly being released as the case proceeds? I would say that two of those

options are most likely to happen. But it also depends on the prosecutor, all right? So I would say that the two that are most likely to happen are either the extension of another 30 days of the underrest period. And the second option would be the pretrial release. I don't see them ever being under home arrest or something like that. It seems unusual that they would be under home arrest if there's a fear that they could flee or evade investigation. Exactly, exactly. I could also give you some context because I saw the decision, well, I saw the decision of the first judge that put them underrest for 30 days, and I could tell you the motives for why did he choose to keep them under arrest, if that's something of interest.

Well, go ahead and explain that. Yeah. So I read the document where the judge argues and says why he kept them underrest for 30 days. And the motives are the following. First of all, so they don't escape the country. And the second, which is the most important to understand, the judge is aware of the fact that Tate brothers are public persons, and they have a lot of media attention. attention and also social media attention.

And he said that if they would be let free, then this could create social insecurity because the charges that they are facing are serious charges, right? And he feels like the judge feels like he doesn't want to create social insecurity. And that could also be a threat in terms of the people, the citizens, questioning the act of justice, all right? So this is two of the main reasons why. Now you could also argue that the third one is so that they don't intervene in terms of of the witnesses statements because they are powerful people, they have money and they can

easily influence the statements of the witnesses. You mentioned social media. Andrew Tate's lawyer said that basically he is playing a character when he's tweeting. I mean, he's been called a misogynist. He was banned from Twitter at one point in time and other platforms for some of his views that his lawyer is saying, look, he's playing a character. You know, this is part of his persona. It's not who he really is. Does that matter? That was the first defense. when the first judge gave him the 30 days period of arrest and here's how the judge responded to that. The judge said very clear that he can't take seriously the defendant's part where they are claiming that the suspects are playing a persona because here's the thing.

The suspects were playing the same persona with the victims as well. They will have the same attitude, the same characters, right? And so you can't argue that you are playing a persona on the internet while at the same time you are doing the same things in real life with the victims. All right. So that's one of the reasons why he couldn't accept the defendant's part. Andrew Tate seems to be saying, and his lawyer, his lawyer gave an interview talking about how they didn't do this and things of that nature. So how long do you think this process will take? Obviously, it's his lawyer's job to defend him. And we're certainly not going to convict him here. But it's a different process in Romania than it is in the United States. First of all, we should answer the fact that they're considered innocent until proven guilty. So they still have the innocent. They're innocent. Now, the second thing, I would say that Andrew Tate has one of some of the best lawyers, because he has like a team.

It's not a problem of lawyers. He has the best team out there. The problem are themselves, if that makes sense. Because all the content that they've been put out there on the social media, it's self-incriminating. And they're going to have a hard time showing the judge that everything they've done and everything they said on the internet is actually not who they are. So those are the main issues. This is the main issue that I can find in this case. In terms of how long this can take, obviously the investigation can take anywhere from one to five, six months.

I don't know exactly, and you can determine that because you don't know the case files. You don't have access to that. But after that, if it goes to trial, the trial can go on for like one to three years without any problems. So it's very hard to determine an exact time frame, but I would say a few months for the investigation and one to three years for the trial if it goes to the trial. There's been a lot of interest in this case, it seems. How interested are people in Romania in the case? Are they watching this closely, or is this just considered a case involving some really horrible allegations and a celebrity?

No, no. Romania people, just like any other people in the world, like other countries, they present the same interest. Obviously, they feel like they are a little bit more attached to it because Andrew Tate was living in Romania, you know, and he was seen as this type of persona in Romania. But I feel like it's the same everywhere else in the world. So people are following it with interest. Yes, exactly, 100%.

Do you know how many victims they believe are, you know, accusers are involved in all of this? I mean, how big do you think this is? I can only talk based on the evidence that I've seen and that are available to the public, all the legal documents that I've read, that I've read. And I can say that there are six victims in this case. One of it, so one of it is behind the charges of rape. The other one is behind the human trafficking. and the rest of them, the four of them, they are behind the human trafficking gas, well, six in total.

And I was reading that they were kind of under the impression they were being loved and things changed. I mean, it was this whole kind of process that they are claiming happened to them, that they felt they were loved by these people and then obviously it changed. Yeah, so what happens is that they're claiming that Andrew Tate and his brother were using the lover boy method to lure the victims. And then once the victims fall, followed in love with them, they came to Romania, and then they pushed them and forced them to do webcam business, web chat or whatever is called, right? That's the issue. Now, one of the biggest problems is that in Romania, the lover boy method is very well known by the legal system and by the judges and by

the prosecutors, because the mafia bosses lured, used this method for the last 2030s to lure victims and use them for prostitution. So it might be the case where already the judges and the prosecutors have already like an idea or a vision about what this lover boy means, and they automatically associate it whenever they find it. Even if Andrew Tate and his brother didn't use those girls for prostitution, but they used them to turn them into employees for their main business, which is the webcam business, right? But they are going to have a hard time approving that, in my opinion. Stefan Loredon, a attorney, licensed attorney in Romania, thank you again for coming on to offer your time and your expertise. As we continue to follow this case,

I'm sure we will have you back on again. Thanks for having me. Always a pleasure. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and Logan Harris. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. Alyssa Fisher is our booking producer. And Kira Bronson does our social media.

You can download and listen to Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.