The allegations against Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are serious. Seven alleged victims are said to be known. Charges have been brought against the two.
Bucharest/Munich – Now it’s official: The British-American influencer Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan and two alleged Romanian accomplices are on trial in Bucharest for sexual exploitation of women.
According to the Romanian Public Prosecutor’s Office (DIICOT), the special unit responsible for organized crime, has completed the investigation and sent the indictment to the court. This was announced on Tuesday (June 20, 2023). A first hearing date was not initially announced.
Andrew Tate case: background
On December 30, 2022, the four suspects were arrested in a Bucharest suburb. Investigators discovered weapons and large sums of cash in the Tate brothers’ villa. Tate’s arrest was announced a day after a row with climate activist Greta Thunberg went viral on Twitter. Ten properties and 15 luxury cars owned by the Tates in Romania were later confiscated. At the end of April, the pre-trial detention was finally converted into house arrest.
Andrew Tate: Charges against controversial influencer face 13 years in prison
Most recently, the prosecutors had expanded the allegations against 36-year-old Andrew Tate, his two-year-old brother and the two Romanian women. As reported by DIICOT, the criminal offenses of human trafficking and rape, which were initially known, are said to have been committed not just once, but “in a continuous manner”. Prosecutors accuse the Tate brothers and their accomplices of forcing young women to appear in commercially distributed sex videos.
They are said to have used the so-called “loverboy method”: they used manipulation techniques to make the girls dependent on themselves. Some of the victims are said to have threatened and blackmailed them. The authorities are aware of a total of seven alleged victims.
In addition to allegations of human trafficking and rape, the charges include “illegally accessing a computer system, altering the integrity of computer data, inciting physical harm or other violence.”
Human trafficking and rape: Tate brothers deny allegations
One of the Tate brothers’ alleged Romanian accomplices was a former police officer. The four accused face up to 13 years in prison for founding an organized crime group. On Tuesday, the accused again rejected all allegations.
Ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate has British and US citizenship. He had moved to Romania years ago. In 2016 he appeared on the UK reality TV show Big Brother. However, he was banned from the TV show after a video surfaced of him attacking a woman.
The 36-year-old was banned from several online services because of misogynist statements. However, he still has around 6.9 million followers on the short message service Twitter. Tate wrote, among other things, that women who become victims of sexual assault are to blame for it themselves.
Meanwhile, a case has also been causing a stir in Germany for weeks. The public prosecutor is investigating Till Lindemann, singer of the band Rammstein. After serious allegations, the “Casting Director” Alena Makeeva is now the focus of the investigation. (mbr with dpa/AFP)
#Andrew #Tate #charged #human #trafficking #influencers #face #years #prison