Former kickboxing champion turned online influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have officially been charged following a lengthy criminal probe in Romania into alleged human trafficking and organised crime.
After being imprisoned without charge for nearly six months, initially in actual prison and under house arrest since March, Andrew and Tristan Tate, along with two Romanian women, have been charged with human trafficking and forming an organised criminal enterprise.
In addition, Andrew Tate has been charged with raping one woman and his brother Tristan has been charged with instigating violence, Sky News reports.
The investigators from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) alleged that the brothers, in 2021, began a human trafficking effort in Romania as well as in the United States and United Kingdom from where they allegedly recruited women, using promises of marriage and love to convince them to come to Romania, whereupon they were allegedly sexually exploited and forced into doing pornography.
Throughout the investigation, all four have maintained their innocence, while the Tate brothers claim that the case was brought forward against them in order to stem their influence, with Andrew becoming one of the most searched-for men online in the world last year after going viral on Tik Tok and other social media platforms criticising feminism, global governance, the response to the Chinese coronavirus, and the state of modern masculinity.
A spokesman for the Tate brothers said following the indictment: “We embrace the opportunity it presents to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation.”
“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.”
The findings of the DIICOT investigation will now for the first time be put before a judge who, under Romanian law, will have 60 days to inspect the merits of the case.
In addition to charging the brothers, DIICOT revealed in a statement on Tuesday that authorities have seized large sums of cryptocurrency from the Tates, as well as 14 luxury watches, 15 luxury cars, two ingots, and 15 buildings and properties.
Responding to the statement, Andrew Tate wrote on Twitter: “Im sure this case has absolutely nothing to do with stealing my wealth.”
For his part, Tristan Tate wrote: “They’ve finished the ‘investigation’! Progress at last. These 15 months have been hell on everybody I care about.
“If I were the police I’d have ended the ‘investigation’ after a week when the two girls were caught bragging about lying and discussing the future financial and fame benefits they would get by doing so.
“None the less this ‘file’ will now finally be in the hands of a judge. This means the evidence will finally be reviewed. Up until now no judge has looked at the evidence and even tried to make a ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ determination. The case was in the hands of investigators who were fighting to keep me in jail so they could ‘keep investigating’.”
“Horrible I know. But the good part starts now.”
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