Far-right podcaster Andrew Tate was arrested in Romania on Monday after online influencer Adin Ross revealed his apparent escape plan during a livestream on Kick.
The arrest, which also saw Tate’s brother Tristan taken into custody, came after a warrant was issued from the U.K. in connection with rape and sexual assault allegations.
The legal firm McCue Law, which represents four of Tate’s alleged victims in the U.K., publicly confirmed that they had been tipped off to the stream. The stream ultimately led authorities to arrest Tate over fears that he may attempt to flee Romania, where he is also facing charges.
During the stream, Ross discussed messages he received from Tate detailing his intentions to leave Romania and “probably” never come back.
“Andrew had hit me up. He said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be leaving Romania soon and probably never coming back. If you want to come over and do a week of long streams and content before I leave, I think it’ll be big. And it’s never’—I’m sorry, he said, ‘It’s basically now or never.'”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, a representative for the Tate brothers denied that his clients had any plans to leave the country.
“We unequivocally deny any accusations that Andrew or Tristan Tate intends to abscond from Romania to evade the judicial proceedings,” the statement said.
The representative went on to claim that Ross had misconstrued Tate’s messages.
Tate was originally arrested in Romania in 2022 on charges of rape, human trafficking, and forming an organized group to exploit women. The charges, which Tate has been awaiting trial for, are separate from those issued in the U.K.
Following this week’s arrest, Ross apologized to Tate during another livestream before stating that he had “fucked up.”
“I really, really fucked up,” Ross said. “And Andrew Tate’s team confirmed that I fucked up.”
Matthew Jury, one of the lawyers representing Tate’s U.K. accusers, accused Tate of spreading disinformation since his original arrest in 2022.
“Since his arrest in Romania, Tate has spread a vast amount of disinformation about the criminal allegations he faces in the U.K. in a series of high-profile interviews with individuals such as Piers Morgan and Tucker Carlson,” Jury wrote. “We hope these recent developments will discourage them and others from continuing to give Tate such a platform or, at least, encourage them to properly interrogate him on the allegations.”
Although the U.K.’s request for extradition was approved, Tate’s court case in the country will not begin until his case in Romania is concluded. Tate and his brother were released from custody on Tuesday. A date has not been set for their Romanian trial.
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