Accused rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate has been released from house arrest after a Romanian court decision on Tuesday.
The news garnered words of support from Matt Gaetz, who Donald Trump previously nominated to be attorney general.
Tate has been under house arrest since August following a criminal investigation into him, his brother Tristan and four other suspects.
Tate and the others face accusations of human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, money laundering, and forming an organized criminal group, charges which they all deny.
The court replaced the strict house arrest order on Tate with a lesser “judicial control” measure until the outcome of a criminal investigation, according to a spokesperson.
“This ruling marks a decisive step forward, granting [Tate] the freedom to travel throughout Romania,” his representative said.
Under the new order, Tate must not leave Romania, has to regularly check in with police and cannot speak with witnesses in the case.
Tate and his brother will be extradited to the U.K. after the trial, regardless of the result.
The house arrest order is part of a second criminal investigation into Tate and the group after the first case failed in December and was sent back to prosecutors.
Gaetz, who withdrew his name from consideration for the attorney general role amid allegations of sexual misconduct and revelations that he had been investigated for potential sex trafficking, said the charges against Tate “always seemed very suspect,” in a post on X.
Tate thanked Gaetz in his own X post.
“Matrix attack,” he wrote, a reference to the 2000 movie of the same name, adding, “I think you know a thing or two about that. But in the end, we win,” he wrote to Gaetz, followed by a heart symbol.
