Andrew Tate loses appeal to relax judicial restrictions as he awaits human trafficking, rape trial

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrew Tate, the divisive social media influencer awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape, lost an appeal Thursday to have the court relax geographical restrictions preventing him from traveling outside the eastern European country.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled against Tate, who had challenged a May 10 decision that extended by 60 days restrictions on the 37-year-old stipulating he may not leave the country. Tate had requested that he be able to leave Romania, provided he stay within Europe’s ID-check-free Schengen zone, which Romania partially joined in March.

“It’s not about wanting to leave the country," Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate’s lawyers, told reporters at the court. “One thing is to travel free and another is to leave the country. The right to travel is a constitutional right, it is a legal right, it is one of the fundamental rights.”

Tate, a former professional kickboxer and dual British-U.S. citizen, was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest, Romania's capital, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June last year. They have denied the allegations.

After the brothers’ arrest, they were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to the Bucharest municipality and nearby Ilfov county, but may now travel freely within Romania.

Andrew Tate, who has amassed 9.3 million followers on the social media platform X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for allegedly expressing misogynistic views and for hate speech.

On April 26, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled in favor of the prosecutors’ case against Tate, saying it met the legal criteria and that the trial could proceed. However, no date was set. That ruling came after the legal case had been discussed for months in the preliminary chamber stages, a process in which the defendants can challenge prosecutors’ evidence and case file.

In a separate case, Tate is also facing a civil lawsuit by four British women in the United Kingdom, after a claim issued by the High Court in London, according to a statement earlier this month by the law firm representing the four women.

The four allege Tate sexually and physically assaulted them and had reported him to British authorities in 2014 and 2015. After a four-year investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2019 not to prosecute him. The alleged victims then turned to crowdfunding to pursue a civil case against him.

In a separate, third case, the Tate brothers also appeared in March at the Bucharest Court of Appeal after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. case dating back to 2012-2015.

The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the Tates to the U.K., but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.

Andrew Tate gestures while exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, talk to media after exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate gestures while exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, talk to media after exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, talk to media after exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, talk to media after exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate gestures while exiting the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, right, and his brother Tristan, left, arrive at the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, right, shakes hand with his lawyer Eugen Vidineac, left, inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate waits for a security check inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate walks inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate gestures inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, right, and his brother Tristan, left, arrive at the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate walks inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. Tate, the divisive social media personality who is awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, has lost an appeal against a court’s earlier decision to extend geographical restrictions.(AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan, right, wait inside the Court of Appeals building in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

NEW YORK (AP) — The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.

It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle.

Shari Redstone's National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramount’s Class A voting shares though the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone. She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as “Top Gun" and “The Godfather.”

Just weeks after turning down a similar agreement with Skydance, however, Redstone agreed to a deal on terms that had not changed much.

“Given the changes in the industry, we want to fortify Paramount for the future while ensuring that content remains king,” said Redstone, who is chair of Paramount Global.

The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion.

Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major Paramount hits in recent years, including Tom Cruise films like “Top Gun: Maverick” and installments of the “Mission Impossible” series.

Skydance was founded in 2010 by David Ellison and it quickly formed a production partnership with Paramount that same year. Ellison, if the deal is approved by U.S. regulators, will become chairman and chief executive officer of what’s being called New Paramount.

The on-again, off-again merger arrives at tumultuous time for Paramount, which in an annual shareholder meeting in early June laid out a restructuring plan that includes major cost cuts.

Leadership at Paramount has been volatile this year after its CEO Bob Bakish, following a number of disputes with Redstone, was replaced with an “office of the C.E.O,” run by three executives. Four company directors were also replaced.

Paramount, however, has struggled to find its footing for years and its cable business has been hemorrhaging. To capture today’s growing streaming audience, the company launched Paramount+ back in 2021, but losses and debts have continue to grow.

Sumner Redstone used National Amusements, his family’s movie theater chain, to build a vast media empire that included CBS and Viacom, which have merged and separated a number of times over the years. Most recently, the companies re-joined forces in 2019, undoing the split consummated in 2006. The company, ViacomCBS, changed its name to Paramount Global in 2022.

Under Sumner Redstone’s leadership, Viacom became one of the nation’s media titans, home to pay TV channels MTV and Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures.

It is a company with a rich history, as well as a deep bank of media assets, ankd Skydance wasn’t the only one to gun for Paramount in recent months — Apollo Global Management and Sony Pictures also made competing offers.

Late last year, Warner Bros. Discovery also made headlines for exploring a potential merger with Paramount. But by February, Warner had reportedly halted those talks.

FILE - The main gate to Paramount Studios is seen on Melrose Avenue, July 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. Entertainment giant Paramount has agreed to merge with Skydance, a deal that will hand over control of the company that owns CBS and the studio behind blockbuster films such “Top Gun″ and ”The Godfather." The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)