Social media personality Andrew Tate has appeared at a Romanian court, where prosecutors have charged him with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women.
Tate and his brother, Tristan, who is also charged with the offences, arrived at the court in the capital Bucharest, flanked by six bodyguards.
Prosecutors have also filed charges against two Romanian women in the case.
Romania’s anti-organised crime agency alleged that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the US and UK.
The agency alleged that seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence by the gang.
One defendant is accused of raping a woman twice in March 2022, according to the statement.
Tate, 36, has resided in Romania since 2017. The former professional kickboxer has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged that the case is a political conspiracy to silence him.
Asked by reporters: “How much money have you made from trafficking women?” outside court ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Tate replied: “Zero.”
Tate’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said on Tuesday that the brothers were prepared to “demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation”, adding: “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 Tate brothers, who are dual British-US citizens, and the two Romanian suspects were detained in late December in Bucharest.
The brothers won an appeal on March 31 to be moved from police custody to house arrest.
Tate is a successful social media figure with more than six million Twitter followers, many of them young men and schoolchildren.
He was previously banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook for hate speech and his misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for getting sexually assaulted.
Tate returned to Twitter last year after the platform’s new CEO, Elon Musk, reinstated his account.
Romania’s anti-organised crime agency said the seven alleged victims were recruited with false declarations of love and taken to Romania’s Ilfov county, where they were forced to take part in pornography.
The women were allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors ordered the confiscation of the Tate brothers’ assets, including 15 luxury cars, designer watches and about three million dollars (£2.3 million) in cryptocurrency, the agency’s statement said.
