ANDREW Tate's bodyguard who allegedly ran an "army of mercenaries" to protect the Tate Brothers compound in Romania has been raided by police.
Bogdan Stancu, who runs private security firm Team Risk Security, has reportedly had his phone seized by agents from Romania's organised crime busters DIICOT.
Stancu is understood to have been The Tates' head of security and de facto bodyguard while they were staying at their compound in Romania.
Cops raided the compound which is alleged to have been the brother's base of operations from which they ran their webcam empire.
His two houses were among the seven raided as part of the probe into the alleged sex trafficking scheme – that also including a police swoop on the home of OnlyFans model Abigail Tyson.
Misogynistic influencer Tate and his brother Tristan have been arrested accused of sex trafficking and organised crime.
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Their lawyers deny all charges against them – and claim that Andrew's highly misogynistic online persona was just a "character".
And now Stancu appears to have been drawn into the investigation, with police sources telling The Sun Online he being treated as a potential witness.
He is currently not suspected of any wrongdoing.
The bodyguard is understood to have been working for the Tates for the last two years and was in charge of coordinating their protection.
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Pictures on his social media show him flying on a private jet, and another image appears to show him at the Tate compound in Bucharest.
The security guard is seen posing in front of a car that appears to be the Tate's distinctive Lamborghini.
It appears he has a wife named Diana and a young son.
Prosecution sources told The Sun Online that Stancu was in charge of recruiting a "small army" of mercenaries for the Tates.
He is a former officer of the Romanian government security service the DGPI.
Stancu is believed to have used his contacts from the agency to recruit former military figures and police officers to work for the Tates.
His firm Team Risk Security was established in 2015 – and accounts show in 2021 it turned over more than £51,000.
Andrew Tate – supported by his brother – has spent years creating a warped empire promoting toxic worldview which has infected legions of fans through TikTok.
Masquerading as lifestyle advice, much of the content is actually highly sexist and promotes violence against women.
His influence has had a worrying spread amongst teenage boys, with one UK MP saying he is "brainwashing" children.
Tate and his brother are alleged to have used the "loverboy" method to recruit women for their webcam business.
It is claimed they would strike up relationships with the women before moving them to their compound and webcam studio in Romania.
And there DIICOT claims the women would be compelled to perform webcam shows through "physical violence and mental coercion".
Tate initially gained fame after a short-lived appearance on Big Brother.
He was dumped from the reality show after alleged footage of him beating a woman emerged online.
Since then he has sparked revulsion and outrage with a wave of warped content online.
Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones called on the UK Government to take action on the spread of Tate's content – with teachers already revealing a worrying spread in schools.
"Schools across the UK are in crisis as the effect of online influencer Andrew Tate’s vile misogyny infiltrates our classrooms and society," said Ms Davies Jones MP.
"Teachers are now having to develop their own resources to re-educate boys who are being brainwashed online by his deeply toxic messaging."
And experts from The RAP Project, which runs workshops about rape, consent and sexual assault, have increasingly had be called in to tackle the spread of Tate's influence.
Meanwhile, the NSPCC has called on tech companies to do more to tackle hate content like Tate's online.
Rani Govender, the leading charity's child safety online policy officer, said: “This sexist content is shaping boys’ attitudes and behaviour, causing harm to girls in and out of school and online.”
Washington DC-born Tate was banned from Twitter in 2017 for violating its terms of service with his controversial comments.
In August, Tate was banned from a range of other social media sites – only to then be reinstated on Twitter after the company was taken over by Elon Musk.
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"Andrew and Tristan vehemently deny all accusations made against them," a spokesman for the Tates told The Sun Online.
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