Romanian prosecutors have indicted controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate on charges of trafficking minors, sex with a minor and money laundering.
The move on Friday piles further legal pressure on Tate, who along with his brother were jailed in the United States in July after prosecutors in the United Kingdom requested their extradition on rape charges.
Romania’s anti-organised crime agency DIICOT said in a statement that Tate and his brother Tristan, who was indicted for complicity in the case, recruited their victims by falsely claiming to seek a relationship or marriage before forcing them to produce sexually exploitative content for a webcam business.
The Tate brothers have denied all wrongdoing.
DIICOT said one of Andrew Tate’s victims was 15 when he seduced her in Britain in 2012 before moving her to the Romanian capital Bucharest and using physical violence and psychological intimidation to force her into producing indecent images of children for social media.
Tristan was an accessory, the unit said, and used physical aggression to coerce the victim.
Prosecutors said the brothers kept $1.25m from the video chat income generated by the victim, or roughly 80 percent of her earnings. The brothers tried to launder the funds by buying four luxury cars, they added.
DIICOT alleges that the Tate brothers’ victims were paid or intimidated in a bid to coax them “not to give statements or to give false statements.”
Eugen Vidineac, a Romanian lawyer for the Tates, said in a statement that the brothers rejected the allegations.
“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,” he said. “Our clients continue to reject the allegations against them.”
The Tates are former kickboxers with dual US and British citizenship who amassed a vast social media following worldwide, especially among young men. Their content frequently criticised gender equality and argued for male dominance.
They were arrested in Florida in late July after the UK requested their extradition. Andrew Tate’s official social media accounts have bemoaned the conditions of his Miami jail and alleged that the charges against him are persecution for his social and political views.
Romanian authorities first opened a probe into the brothers related to potential crimes including human trafficking in December 2022, around five years after they moved to the country. Andrew Tate had boasted in online videos that he had relocated to Romania because law enforcement was more lax.
It was not immediately clear whether DIICOT would seek their extradition.
Romanian law permits the prosecution of defendants in absentia, and the case is now bound for a preliminary court chamber for a judge’s review. While the law states that the preliminary chamber judge has 60 days to finalise its advancement, indictments routinely take significantly longer.
The brothers were previously indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, but in late 2024 the Bucharest court of appeals sent the case back to prosecutors after deeming some evidence inadmissible.
