Social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in police custody in Romania until late April pending an investigation into alleged sex trafficking, as a Romanian court extended their detention, their legal team said on Wednesday.

The Tate brothers, who have dual US and British nationality, and two female Romanian suspects, have been in detention since December 29th as prosecutors investigate them for suspected human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. They have denied all the accusations.

Wednesday’s extension, the fourth since they were detained, comes days after the court denied the brothers’ request to be released on bail, a decision they have appealed.

Prosecutors, who have argued that the Tates posed a flight risk and would interfere with evidence if released from custody, can ask courts to extend suspects’ detention for up to 180 days.

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“The prosecution did not manage to bring any new element to support extending the preventative arrest measure; we are ... at the same stage we were at the start of this case,” defence lawyer Ioan Gliga told reporters.

[ Andrew Tate to remain in custody after Romanian court denies latest bail appeal ]

"The criminal investigation in this case is stalling unjustifiably long."

Lawyers also said they would appeal against Wednesday’s ruling.

Andrew Tate gained mainstream notoriety for misogynistic remarks that got him banned from all major social media platforms, although his Twitter account was reinstated after Elon Musk acquired the social media network. – Reuters