Romanian prosecutors within the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) announced on Wednesday, June 17, that they expanded the investigations against influencer Andrew Tate, regarding the crimes of human trafficking and money laundering.<\/p>\n
The influencer was summoned to DIICOT headquarters on Wednesday to be informed of the new charges, which are added to other crimes for which he had previously been placed under criminal investigation, namely forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, rape, illegal access to a computer system, assault or other violence, and incitement to hatred or discrimination.<\/p>\n
Tate, 39, is accused of recruiting a young Romanian woman back in 2017 to sexually exploit. Through emotional blackmail, he allegedly forced her into pornographic acts on video chat. In his alleged acts, the British former kickboxer took advantage of the clearly vulnerable state of a victim (lack of family support, pre-existing psychological trauma caused by the absence of a father figure, as well as lack of material resources).<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the period of sexual exploitation, the defendant sheltered the victim in a location in Ilfov County and provided her with the logistics necessary for carrying out video chat activities,\u201d DIICOT transmitted in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n Moreover, Andrew Tate is also accused of money laundering after he allegedly used two companies to disguise large sums of money obtained from human trafficking, together with his brother Tristan Tate.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the evidence administered, it also emerged that, between May 2018 and October 2022, the defendant, together with a co-defendant, a relative of his, established two commercial companies, in which they were listed as partners and administrators, to hide and disguise the illicit origin of the sums of money obtained from the crime of human trafficking,\u201d prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two introduced RON 13 million and EUR 370,000 into the companies disguised as apparent loans. Using these funds, the two acquired land, construction, services, cars, and a building. Despite being registered as company property, the acquisitions were \u201cused exclusively in the personal interest of the defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew and Tristan Tate, holding dual citizenship, British and American, were sent to trial by DIICOT on June 20, 2023, accused of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, rape, illegal access to a computer system, assault, or other violence. Later, in December 2024, the courts annulled the indictment, and the case was sent back to DIICOT.<\/p>\n The two brothers were initially detained for several months in Romania, then placed under house arrest, and later under judicial control. Last year, the Trump administration\u00a0reportedly pressured Romanian authorities<\/a>\u00a0into lifting the Tates\u2019 travel ban.<\/p>\n Last month, DIICOT prosecutors announced that they are investigating controversial influencer Andrew Tate for incitement to hatred and discrimination in a continuous form<\/a>. According to prosecutors, the 39-year-old British citizen allegedly incited the public, through several speeches promoted on social media between 2021 and 2024, to hatred and discrimination against women.<\/p>\n At the end of March, British police announced that they had\u00a0reopened an investigation<\/a>\u00a0following accusations by several women regarding acts of rape and sexual assault in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n