Jailhouse phone recordings cited by judges in court papers obtained by BuzzFeed News show that Andrew hoped to flee to Dubai under the pretext of receiving medical treatment there. (The UAE does not have an extradition treaty with Romania.) A Tate representative told the Daily Mail in early March that the black spot on Andrew’s lung was “most likely a tumour”. However, Andrew later clarified via Twitter that the spot was actually scars “from an old fight.” The authorities rejected Andrew’s request to travel.
Eugene Vidiniak, a lawyer for the Teets family, has played down speculation that the brothers might try to escape. “They have a home and children in Romania, they are under criminal investigation, and there is no reason to flee,” he told local media. “Regarding their departure from the country, the published wiretaps partially omitted the context,” Mattia Petrescu, a spokesman for Teets, told BuzzFeed News. [namely] Andrew is discussing leaving for Dubai for medical inquiries only if his situation allows it.
Romanian authorities also said that the Teets family encouraged their army of followers to send a letter to at least one alleged victim demanding that they retract their accusations. The judge noted in the session that “these comments would create a state of fear in the victim as a result of the threatening tone in his address to her and the attempt to persuade her to change her statements towards the accused in the case.” February summary.
(Soliman Ahmed, a pro-Tate online personality, tweeted on February 18 that he had traveled to Palm Beach, Florida — the hometown of one of the key witnesses in the case — “For a big storyHowever, there was no indication that Ahmed, who did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment, had actually met the witness or her family.)
Furthermore, in December, a US law firm representing the brothers sent a cease and desist letter to the woman in Florida, urging her to retract her statements or face a defamation suit. Romanian authorities view this letter as part of the alleged intimidation puzzle.
Tina Glandian, the Teets family’s separate American lawyer, who works on their Romanian legal team, recently confirmed to the media that her “firm had no role in sending the cease and desist letter.” Petrescu told BuzzFeed News that the letter was “a legal action in the United States of America,” adding that “these doubts are outdated given that the appeals court judges decided to place her under house arrest.”