Three women in the U.K. have reportedly come forward with allegations of rape and abuse against the self-described “king of toxic masculinity” influencer Andrew Tate.
The group, who are now in their late 20s and early 30s, say they suffered physical and psychological harm as a result of the alleged abuse they received from Tate while working for him as webcam models in England between 2013 and 2016.
The women have told Sky News in the U.K. that they plan to sue Tate. They say first reported their accusations to British police eight years ago, but claim the authorities failed to properly investigate before the case was dropped altogether.
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“To have seen Andrew Tate’s rise in popularity and influence, while knowing who he is and what he has done, has been extremely difficult for those of us who were sexually and physically abused by him,” one of the women told Sky News. “We intend to prove in court that Andrew is abusive, coercive and controlling and that his public statements about women are nothing more than fantasy.”
Matt Jury, a lawyer representing the alleged victims, says the group’s accusations constitute the “most awful behavior towards women” including rape, sexual and physical assaults, strangulations with belts, and holding guns against their heads.
Through his legal team, Tate, denied the claims and said the women simply “wanted money because I fired them.” The 36-year-old British-American former kickboxer is currently under house arrest in Romania, where authorities are investigating him on suspicion of rape, human trafficking, and sexually exploiting women. His brother, Tristan, and two Romanian women are also being investigated on the same allegations—all four deny wrongdoing.
In 2015, British police began investigating the claims forming the basis of the lawsuit. Tate was arrested three times in the U.K. on suspicion of sexually assaulting one woman and raping two others—but the case was dropped altogether in 2019.
Jury says Hertfordshire Police, the force handling the investigation, didn’t take the allegations seriously even though “the evidence was there.”
“If those charges had been brought, and he’d been arrested here in England, then perhaps he wouldn’t have fled to Romania where he is reported to have committed further terrible crimes against women,” Jury added.
One of the alleged British victims says her life was negatively affected by the “daily manipulation and physical abuse” she claims to have endured on a daily basis from Tate. “I now suffer with depression, anxiety, stress and have been diagnosed with PTSD,” the unnamed woman added, saying that watching Tate’s meteoric rise to fame on social media was a “huge shock to the system.”
A spokesperson for Tate denied the group’s claims. “By choosing to address the press first before any legal action had been taken, the women in this potential case prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are not seeking accountability or justice, but publicity and monetary compensation,” the spokesperson said. They added that Tate and his brother have not been charged with “any crime” and that “previous attempts to accuse Andrew of similar fabricated crimes have been dismissed by criminal courts in the U.K.”
They also said Tate would take legal action “against defamation, slander and perverting the course of justice.”
