The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were detained on Thursday for an initial 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organized crime unit said after raiding their properties in Bucharest.Commenting on the court decision, Mr. Tate’s lawyer Eugen Constantin Vidineac told reporters: “From our perspective, there are no grounds… for taking this most drastic preventive measure, but it is the judge’s prerogative.
His promotion on social media of an ultra-masculine, luxurious lifestyle has earned him a large online following among mostly young men. He has often appeared in videos with expensive sports cars, on private jets and on exotic holidays. Climate activist Greta Thunberg told Mr. Tate on Twitter this week before his arrest to “get a life” after he told her he owned 33 cars with “enormous emissions”.
Following online speculation that the brand of pizza featured in the video helped police confirm Mr. Tate’s presence in Romania, Ms. Thunberg quipped on Twitter that “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes”.