Romanian prosecutors indict Andrew Tate for trafficking minors and money laundering
The brothers were arrested in Miami on July 18 after the UK requested their extradition
Romanian prosecutors have officially indicted Andrew Tate for trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor and witness tampering.
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His brother Tristan has been indicted for complicity.
The brothers were arrested in Miami on July 18 after the UK requested their extradition. The brothers, who have dual US and British citizenship, have denied any wrongdoing.
The former kickboxers have built a large online following promoting their views on masculinity and wealth. Andrew Tate, 39, has previously described himself as a misogynist.
Mainly based in Romania since 2017, they have been under criminal investigation in the country on charges including human trafficking since December 2022. They have denied all wrongdoing.
Romanian prosecutors said the Tates recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage, before forcing them to produce pornographic content for a webcam business.
"We will examine every aspect of (the indictment) with the same level of scrutiny and we will challenge any evidential, procedural or legal deficiencies through the appropriate judicial process," a Romanian lawyer for the Tates, Eugen Vidineac, said in a statement.
"Our clients continue to reject the allegations against them."
The spokesperson for the Romanian anti-organized crime prosecuting unit DIICOT — which is investigating the Tates — said it was not immediately clear whether the unit will seek their extradition from the United States.
The Tates can be tried in absentia in Romania, but the trial will not start immediately. Under Romanian law, the indictment gets sent to a preliminary court chamber, where a judge will inspect the case files to ensure legality.
While the law states that the preliminary chamber judge has 60 days to finalise the report, indictments routinely take significantly longer.
At a hearing in Miami federal court last week, Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis declined to rule immediately on the Tate brothers' request for bail, meaning they will remain in federal custody until she issues her ruling.
Federal prosecutors argued they would pose a danger to the community if released. After the Tates testified, prosecutor Abbie Waxman showed the court a video of Andrew Tate saying, “slap, slap, grab, choke, shut up bitch, sex.”
"They promote incredible violence against women," Waxman said. "It is not a character, it is who they are."
Alicia Kearns has written to the Home Office and referred the matter to Counter Terrorism Policing, arguing there are grounds to examine whether the brothers were required to register under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), part of the National Security Act.
A representative for the brothers told LBC that they deny any wrongdoing.
The Tates recruited dozens of women to work for a webcam pornography business starting in 2014, and later ran online courses called "Hustler's University," prosecutors with the Miami U.S. Attorney's office said in an August 10 court filing.
On the witness stand on Thursday, both Tate brothers testified that they were playing characters online when they made crude posts.
"Top G is a caricature," Andrew Tate said, referring to an online moniker that he called a "hyperbolic character."
"I do this to shake men out of apathy," he said.
Tristan Tate, 38, testified that his brother's outlandish comedy "makes him go viral."
"He’s the only person in the world who is judged by a character that he plays," Tristan Tate said.
At the hearing, the brothers wore beige prison garb and sported beards.
The Tates' defence lawyers proposed that Louis release them on the condition that they post bond, surrender their passports and submit to location monitoring.
Earlier, the mother of one of Andrew Tate's children, Natasha Sesay, said his sometimes provocative comments online did not reflect who he truly was.
"It’s a very different character between the person that you see online and the person I know," said Sesay, who is expecting another one of his children next month.
On cross-examination by Waxman, Sesay acknowledged that Andrew Tate paid for her home in Dubai as well as luxury bags, shoes and jewellery.
The legal process for determining whether the Tate brothers may be extradited could take months.
The UK has until September 16 to submit its full extradition request to the State Department, US court records show.
The impetus for the brothers' arrests in Miami was new charges brought by the Crown Prosecution Service relating to alleged offenses involving four alleged victims between July 2010 and August 2017.
They had previously faced rape and human trafficking charges in Britain related to three alleged victims, the CPS said.
A British judge issued a warrant for their arrests in 2024. They have not appeared in British court to enter a plea to those charges.
Britain is seeking to extradite the brothers to face both sets of charges.