A Moldovan woman thought it was love. Internet celebrity Andrew Tate offered her a new life. They were also discussing marriage. All he asked for was absolute loyalty.
“You have to understand that once you’re mine, you’re mine forever,” Tate told her on Feb. 4, 2022.
Tate, an influencer with millions of online followers, encouraged a Moldovan woman to join him in Romania. I reassured him, “But you must be by my side.
The following month, Romanian prosecutors say Tate raped a woman twice in the country while trying to get her to participate in a human trafficking operation focused on making pornography on the online platform OnlyFans. .
The allegations and messages are contained in unpublished court documents dated December 30, 2022 and have been reviewed by Reuters. The document paints the most detailed picture yet of the illegal business allegedly run by former kickboxing world champion Tate and his brother. , Tristan.
Arrested in December
They came to light on December 29 after the brothers were arrested on charges of forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
Andrew Tate, 36, a British-American who has been based primarily in Romania since 2017, and his 34-year-old brother deny all allegations against them. They could not be reached for comment.
In response to questions, their lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, said they could not publicly confirm or deny information about the case while the investigation was ongoing. He said he could not comment on the investigation.
Reuters has retranslated a WhatsApp exchange with a Moldovan woman (shown in Romanian in court documents) back into their native English. Although accurate, the translation of the Romanian version provided by the prosecutor may not be identical to the original wording.
The brothers used deception and intimidation to bring six women under their control and “turned them into slaves,” the prosecutor said in the document. His 61-page file, prepared by court officials in Bucharest, consists of the minutes of the hearings when the judge extended Tates’ detention, as well as evidence presented by the prosecution.
According to court documents, Mr. Bidinak said the brother’s victim was not abused but “lived in the shadow of the famous Mr. and Mrs. Tates.” “They were happy and no one was forcing them to do these things,” he said.
In the document, Vidinak admitted that Andrew Tate had sex with a Moldovan woman, but that it was consensual and accused her of fabricating the rape allegations.
Reuters was unable to independently corroborate the version of the case provided by prosecutors or defense attorneys, and was unable to reach the six women named in the documents for comment. , does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes unless they choose to publish their names.
Two of the women told Romanian TV station Antena3 on January 11 that they were not victims and that the Tates were innocent. The station identified them only by the names Beatrice and Iasmina.
“If you say I’m not a victim, you can’t list me as a victim,” Beatrice told the station. Is not …
hyper macho image
The allegations facing Tate focus on a self-proclaimed misogynist who has built an online fan base, especially among younger men, by promoting his extravagant, ultra-macho image of driving fast cars and dating beautiful women. is guessing.
According to Google analysis, he was the eighth most Googled person in the world in 2022, only behind figures such as Johnny Depp, Will Smith and Vladimir Putin.
Prosecutors said Tates had control of the victim’s OnlyFans account and earnings that amounted to tens of thousands of euros, highlighting the concerns of some human rights groups about the potential exploitation of women on such platforms. ing.
Reuters was unable to verify the existence of the alleged victim’s OnlyFans account.
Monitoring Tate
UK-based OnlyFans has 150 million users, and while much of its content is erotic or pornographic, it also pays varying amounts of monthly fees to ‘creators’ in areas such as fitness training and music. I’m here.
The company, which has 1.5 million creators earning hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars a month, says on its website that it is the “most secure digital media platform.” Founded in 2016, it has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Spokesperson Sue Bevey told Reuters that Andrew Tate “never had or received payment” for a creator account. She said OnlyFans has been monitoring him since the beginning of 2022 and has “aggressively” stopped him from posting or monetizing content without detailing the reasons for the scrutiny or the actions taken. She also said that creators as a whole underwent extensive background checks and that all content was reviewed by the platform, which works closely with law enforcement.
Vidineac declined to comment on the actions taken by OnlyFans against Tate.
