On June 20, 2023, controversial internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, were officially charged with human trafficking, r*pe, and s*xual exploitation of women. The Tate brothers were released from prison earlier this year (March 2023) and have since been placed under house arrest.
During a recent Rumble livestream, Tristan and Andrew Tate claimed they recently went to the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) office in Romania and were informed that their charges had been dropped.
Tristan Tate elaborated:
"Yesterday when they changed the status of the case file, they have to call you to the offices of DIICOT. So, I was looking at six counts of human trafficking. I went there yesterday... and when I left the building, I was facing one count of human trafficking. So that's yesterday summed up as a whole. I don't know where the other five counts went, I don't know why they were around for so long before they disappeared for 14 months."
However, things took a turn earlier today as Andrew Tate and his brother were charged with the aforementioned crimes.
What are the charges against Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate?
On June 20, 2023, DIICOT issued an official press release detailing Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate's crimes. It was stated that the Britons were charged with crimes such as belonging to an organized criminal group, human trafficking, r*pe, unauthorized access to a computer system, and inciting violence:
"For committing the crimes of constituting an organized criminal group, human trafficking in a continuous form (in relation to each individual defendant, four material documents, three material documents, six material documents and five material acts relative to the number of injured persons), continued r*pe (two material acts), illegal access to the computer system, alteration of the integrity of computer data, instigation to hit or other violence and hitting or other violence."
According to the report, "injured persons" were recruited by "foreign nationals" (Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate), who misled them with the intention of marrying them. The victims were then housed in Ilfov County, where the latter engaged in acts of "physical violence and mental coercion":
"The injured persons were recruited by the foreign nationals, by misleading them about the intention to establish a marriage/cohabitation relationship and the existence of real feelings of love (the loverboy method). They were later transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county where, by exercising acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and invoking alleged debts)."
"They were s*xually exploited by group members by forcing them to perform p*rn*graphic demonstrations in order to produce and disseminate through some social media platforms materials having such a character. The 7 injured persons identified during the criminal investigation were subjected to forced labor."
In the following section, DIICOT expanded on the crimes associated with r*pe:
"Regarding the crime of r*pe, it was noted that, in March 2022, an injured person was forced by one of the defendants, through the exercise of physical violence and mental pressure, to repeatedly have s*xual relations (two material acts)."
Further, the government revealed which of Andrew Tate's assets would be seized. It included 15 lands and properties in Ilfov, Prahova, and Braşov, 15 luxury cars, 15 luxury watches, cryptocurrency wallets totaling $384,905,789, and more:
"The indictment requested the confiscation of several movable and immovable assets (unavailable and seized): 15 lands and buildings located within the counties of Ilfov, Prahova, and Braşov, 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, 2 ingots, and a medal, the social shares held within 4 commercial companies, the sums of 86,580 lei, 52,650 euros, 17,430 USD and 10,370 pounds and the sum of 21,080508 BTC, existing in cryptocurrency wallets (approximately 384,904,789 USD), as well as obliging the defendants to pay some advanced legal expenses of the state in the amount of 300,000 lei"
Readers can access DIICOT's press release by clicking here.
On the same day, Andrew Tate responded to the seizure of his assets. In a social media post, he claimed that DIICOT's decision to confiscate his possessions had "absolutely nothing" to do with "stealing" his wealth.
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