Prosecutors in Romania collected 300 pages of graphic evidence and testimony detailing disturbing allegations of influencer Andrew Tate committing sexual violence and coercing women into sexual acts, according to a report.
On Wednesday, the BBC published information included in the report against the British-American influencer, who along with his brother, Tristan Tate, and two others are facing trial in Romania over allegations of forming an organized criminal group and human trafficking. Andrew Tate—who has also been charged with rape—also reportedly sent a text message in which he claims to lead a porn business which prosecutors have accused of being a human trafficking ring.
All of the defendants deny the charges against them. But the BBC’s report—which notes that some of the evidence in the case file may have gone through several translations—includes a series of disturbing allegations, including one of sexual violence that left a woman with eye and breast injuries.
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Prosecutors have previously accused the Tate brothers of forcing women into making pornographic content for financial gain under the threat of physical violence and mental coercion. Among the evidence seen by the British broadcaster is testimony allegedly from several women who lived in a building near the Tate brothers’ house on the outskirts of Bucharest.
Those women claim that the defendants controlled the income they made from their online adult content, with prosecutors alleging that one of the Tates’ co-defendants, Georgiana Naghel, oversaw access to the money made on OnlyFans. The prosecutors say Naghel would pay the women monthly amounts without revealing how much their content had actually made, and that the defendants would take half—or more—of the money generated from TikTok.
Transcribed messages allegedly sent by Naghel included threats to “break your teeth” or “end up in the morgue,” according to the BBC. The women also allegedly faced fines of around 10 percent even for minor transgressions like crying while live online. A lawyer for the two female defendants in the case strongly denied the allegations.
Elsewhere, in purported transcriptions of audio messages sent by Tristan Tate in 2020, he allegedly says: “Mainly I’m going to slave these bitches,” adding: “SLAVE work. Minimum 10 or 12 hours a day.”
Two of the women considered victims by prosectors have said they did not share their income with anyone, and have publicly expressed support for the Tate brothers.
Romanian authorities also claim newly recruited women into the alleged trafficking ring were put under the supervision of female defendants Naghel and Luana Radu. In a 2022 text apparently sent from one alleged victim to Andrew Tate, the woman asks if he is “the one running the girl business/OnlyFans and TikTok.” “Tristan and G are,” Tate appeared to reply. “But I lead them.”
In other texts between Tate and the alleged victim, the BBC says transcriptions show he mixed “talk of love and marriage with what seem to be orders, threats, references to rape, or insults such as ‘bitch’ or ‘whore.’” She allegedly replied to a request for group sex with: “I will not have sex with girls. I’m not going to do this,” and later: “I can’t do it without drinking.”
Andrew Tate allegedly replied: “Don’t be boring [...] I want to see that you submit to me [...] Shut up you whore, you will do as I say.” One alleged rape victim reportedly said Tate ordered her to undress but leave her shoes on, before he “slapped her across the face.” She also allegedly said she couldn’t reject Tate because he would hold her head during sex and threatened to get her pregnant and keep her locked in a house.
Investigators reportedly heard from another woman who said violence during sex was Tate’s way of “venting frustration” if she had disobeyed what he told her to do.
As well as the caveat that the audio messages in the report may have gone through multiple translations, the BBC also points out that some of the evidence may yet be ruled inadmissible in the trial and, even if it is admissable, the defendants could still challenge it in court, or argue that they do not meet the threshold of a criminal offense.
A spokeswoman for the Tates accused the BBC of bias and insisted there is “substantial evidence pointing to their innocence,” but did not provide any further detail or address specific allegations raised in the case file.
