Expensive cars, a swimming pool and security guards – Andrew Tate’s lavish Bucharest home may have to pay for his legal woes
We drive down a dusty street in the northern suburbs of Bucharest.
The surface is rough and cracked; there are nails sticking up that have been bent over by the traffic. Weeds grow through the pavement and a parking area is strewn with rubbish.
Along one side of the road, you can see what seems to be a small warehouse, with a door marked out for the security guard. It’s a fairly ugly building from the outside.
But it’s not a warehouse anymore. This is the home of the Tate brothers, a short distance from the runway of the city’s airport, backing onto what looks like scrubland. Peer through the bars on the gate, though, and you see a very different world.
Tate’s home is behind a security gate
Luxury cars can be seen on the land owned by Andrew Tate
There is a looming statue in the front yard, a swimming pool, the word “Tate” picked out in large scrolled writing on two walls, and, most notably, four expensive cars parked by the far wall. A Porsche, a BMW, an Aston Martin and a Rolls-Royce.
Two of them have British personal plates that start with T8, for Tate. I later check and discover that one of them is many months late for its MoT.
This is the house that has been featured in various short films made by Andrew Tate, celebrating his opulent lifestyle. Now, it is quiet.
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Andrew Tate arrives at Romanian court
There are several security men wandering around, presumably to keep an eye on the expensive cars and to ensure that nobody breaks into a house that is now, famously, unoccupied but, just as famously, full of expensive decoration.
We ring the bell, but nobody answers. The house, and its contents, have now been seized by the Romanian government as part of its prosecution of the brothers. Should they ultimately be found guilty then all these things can be sold off to pay for costs and compensation.
It is here that the Tates are alleged to have orchestrated their plan to lure women to Romania and then coerce them into working on pornographic webcams.
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It’s also here that Andrew Tate set up base for his Hustlers University business, which has been described as both a pyramid-selling scheme and a machine to bolster his own online presence.
Neighbours told us that they had seen plenty of coming and going from the house. One described the Tates using a Romanian word that roughly translates as “wheeler-dealers”.
Another said that they had been unpopular during the summer, when they revved their cars at night, while the rest of the block was trying to sleep with their windows open.
Others, though, pointedly made no comment. I spoke to plenty of people in the area, and very few wanted to talk about their notorious neighbours, even in passing. Allegations involving the words “organised crime” often tend to do that.
Andrew Tate leaves after appearing at the Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania
When they were arrested, the allegations seemed extraordinary. The brothers are not simply accused of breaking the law, but of being involved in truly heinous acts.
Somehow, despite the ghastly precedents of recent years, it still seems disconcerting to find high-profile characters being linked to such terrible acts. Crimes that we should record, they deny.
But now that the dust has settled, the case feels more real and tangible. The wheels of justice are turning and, to prove that, we moved from their house to the looming Court of Appeal in the middle of Bucharest.
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And it was there that the Tate brothers lost an appeal against their own detention, as well as the seizure of their assets.
During a hearing that went on for more than five hours, and which was held in private, they both spoke, along with two other defendants, Alexandra Luana Radu and Georgiana Naghel.
But it was to no effect. Their lawyer argued that there was little evidence against them, and that there was no reason to think they would flee the country. Instead, the two judges, both women, upheld the original decision to hold them in custody for 30 days until the end of January.
It’s very likely that the prosecution will seek to extend that detention in the weeks to come. Nobody expects this case, full of complexities and controversy, to come to court very soon.
And in the meantime, in that drab street in Voluntari, the curious Tate residence will stand empty. A testament to an empire that has, at least for the time being, ground to a halt.
World
Romania scrambles fighter jets after Russian drone ‘breaches airspace’ – as Zelenskyy warns of war ‘expansion’
Romania has said a drone breached its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine.
Fighter jets were scrambled on Saturday, coming close to taking down the aircraft as it was flying very low before it left national airspace toward Ukraine, defence minister Ionut Mosteanu said.
Romania is the latest NATO member state to report an incursion, with Poland deploying aircraft and closing an airport in the eastern city of Lublin on Saturday, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its airspace.
They are the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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Russian drones enter Polish airspace: What we know
Meanwhile, military exercises are taking place over the Barents Sea, with Russia and Belarus conducting joint drills.
Russian MiG-31 fighter jets equipped with hypersonic ballistic missiles completed a four-hour flight over the neutral waters as part of ongoing “Zapad 2025” military exercises, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.
Romania has had Russian drone fragments fall on to its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Two F-16 fighter jets were initially scrambled by Romania, and later two Eurofighters.
Citizens in the southeastern county of Tulcea near the Danube and its Ukrainian border were warned to take cover, the defence ministry said.
The ministry said the drone dropped off their radar 20km (12 miles) southwest of the village of Chilia Veche.
While helicopters were surveying the area looking for possible drone parts, Mr Mosteanu told private television station Antena 3 that “all information at this moment indicates the drone exited airspace to Ukraine”.
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Russia getting ‘ready for war with NATO’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that data showed the drone breached about 10km (six miles) into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace for around 50 minutes.
He said Belarusian airspace was also used for entry into Ukraine’s airspace.
Mr Zelenskyy described the reported incursion as “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia,” and called for “tariffs against Russian trade” and a “collective defence”.
He warned: “Do not wait for dozens of “shaheds” [Iranian-designed drones] and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions.”
NATO has said it plans to strengthen eastern flank defence, following earlier Polish airspace violations.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio called the Polish incursion “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous”, and said while it was unclear if the drones were intentionally sent to Poland, if it was the case, it would be “a highly escalatory move”.
Experts, including Sky News international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn have previously suggested the Kremlin is testing the West with gradual but steady escalation – a tactic known as “salami slicing”.
Donald Trump boarding Air Force One on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
On Saturday, Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he was “ready to do major sanctions on Russia”, but only when all NATO nations “do the same thing” and “stop buying oil from Russia”.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Moscow, so far without any action.
The president also said NATO members should also put 50% to 100% tariffs on China – and only withdraw them if the conflict ends.
NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil since 2023, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, with fellow members Hungary and Slovakia also buying energy supplies from Moscow.
The war in Ukraine would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia, Donald Trump has said.
The US president, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, said the alliance’s commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100%” and the purchase of Russian oil by some members is “shocking”.
Doing so “greatly weakens your negotiating position and bargaining power, over Russia,” he said.
NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil since 2023, after China and India, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, with fellow members Hungary and Slovakia also buying energy supplies from Moscow.
A NATO ban on the practice plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR”, he added.
The president said NATO members should also put 50% to 100% tariffs on China – and only withdraw them if the conflict ends.
‘China’s grip’ on Russia
“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” Mr Trump posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip”.
The US president has already placed a 25% import tax on goods from India over its buying of Russian energy products.
Mr Trump said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He did not include in that list Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion.
President Donald Trump at a New York Yankees baseball game on Thursday. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Village changes hands
On the battlefield on Saturday, Russian troops took control of the village of Novomykolaivka in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
A drone attack hit an oil refinery in the city of Ufa, around 870 miles (1,400km) from the border with Ukraine, the local governor said, calling it a terrorist incident.
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Drones shot down in Poland
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Friday the 32-nation alliance would place military equipment on the border with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to deter potential Russian aggression.
Operation ‘Eastern Sentry’ followed Wednesday’s provocative incursion by multiple Russian drones into the airspace of Poland, another NATO member.
Polish forces shot down the drones, which Moscow said went astray because they were jammed.
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Prince Harry’s surprise visit to Ukraine
Prince Harry’s surprise visit
The Duke of Sussex made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Friday, promising to do “everything possible” to help the recovery of injured military staff.
Travelling on an overnight train to Kyiv, Prince Harry, who has since left the country, told The Guardian: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We have to keep it [the war] in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
A barrage of airstrikes has killed at least 32 people in Gaza City as Israel continued intensifying its offensive there, medical staff have said.
The dead include 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
Health officials said one of the strikes killed a family of 10, including a mother and her three children.
The Palestinian Football Association said a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club, Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed with 14 members of his family.
Israel’s army did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes when contacted by the Associated Press news agency.
Israel has in recent days increased its strikes on Gaza City, having ordered residents to leave what it says is Hamas’s last stronghold.
Palestinians run for cover. Pic: AP
Hundreds of thousands of people are still in the city, struggling under conditions of famine, which was declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) three weeks ago. Israel previously denied there is a famine in Gaza.
Aid workers say the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, but many families remain stuck due to difficulties with transportation and housing.
Others have been displaced many times and do not want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the Strip is safe.
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Earlier this month: IDF drops evacuation flyers on Gaza before tower bombed
In a message shared on social media on Saturday, Israel’s army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to “leave immediately” and move south into what it is calling a humanitarian zone.
Sites in southern Gaza, where Israel is telling people to go, are overcrowded, the United Nations has said.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said more than 250,000 people have left Gaza City – but the UN puts the number at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September.
The UN and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
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The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours.
Israel has said it now controls 75% of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to fields of rubble. It has vowed to take the rest.
The current conflict followed Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, when militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 people hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
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