Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, were charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, Romanian officials said Tuesday.
Prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers and two Romanian women in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said.
In a statement, the agency said the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania, the United States and Britain, the Associated Press reported.
The agency said seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence, according to the statement.
The agency said the victims were forced to take part in pornography and allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims that they were in debt, prosecutors said.
The statement said one defendant raped one of the women twice in March 2022, the AP reported.
Tate’s spokesperson responds to charges
The Tate brothers, who are both British-U.S. dual citizens, and the two other suspects were detained in Romania in December 2022. After winning an appeal on March 31, the brothers were moved from police custody to house arrest, the AP reported.
Tate claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him, the AP reported.
Tate’s spokesperson Mateea Petrescu said the brothers are expected to attend a hearing in Bucharest on Wednesday.
“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” Petrescu said Tuesday.
A judge has up to 60 days to assess the files in the case before the defendants are sent to trial, according to Romanian law.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Tate, 36, is a former professional kickboxer and social media personality who was previously banned from various platforms for his misogynistic views. He has more than 6 million Twitter followers, many of those being young men and schoolchildren.
Tate has resided in Romania since 2017.
Contributing: The Associated Press
