High-profile social media personalities and former kickboxers Andrew and Tristan Tate face a fresh round of serious sex crime charges brought by Romanian anti-crime prosecutors, adding another layer of complexity to the multi-jurisdictional legal saga that has surrounded the brothers for nearly three years.
According to Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the new indictment centers on allegations that the pair exploited a minor girl for financial gain, coercing her into performing explicit sexual acts on webcam chats to generate more than $1.2 million (approximately £888,000) in illicit revenue.
The 39-year-old Andrew Tate, who built a massive global audience of young men online by promoting a hyper-masculine, misogynistic worldview paired with flashy displays of extreme wealth, faces four separate charges in the new filing: trafficking of minors, money laundering, and sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old minor. His 38-year-old brother Tristan is charged as an accomplice to minor trafficking and money laundering.
Investigators allege the exploitation of the unnamed vulnerable victim began when Tristan recruited her at age 15. She was first held in a property in Luton, Bedfordshire, for sexual exploitation controlled by Andrew, who investigators say used physical violence and constant surveillance to dominate her and force her into the webcam work. Andrew later moved the teen to Romania, where she was exploited in two of his owned residences. A separate charge accuses Andrew of sexual activity with another 15-year-old minor on Romanian soil.
Prosecutors are also seeking to seize four of the brothers’ luxury vehicles, valued at a total of £710,000. DIICOT alleges the cars were purchased with laundered proceeds from the alleged criminal activities.
Currently, the Tate brothers are being held in a Miami jail as they fight an extradition request from the United Kingdom in a separate, unrelated criminal case. They have maintained their full innocence against all allegations brought forward in every jurisdiction, and have repeatedly claimed that their provocative, divisive online persona is a constructed character separate from their real selves.
The brothers first came under criminal investigation in Romania in December 2022, and have been based in the country since 2017, when they relocated to build their media and business enterprises.
Eugen Constantin Vidineac, the lead defense attorney for the pair, pushed back on the new indictment in a statement, emphasizing that the filing of charges does not equate to a finding of guilt. He noted that DIICOT’s previous indictment in the case was rejected by Romanian courts over significant procedural irregularities that prevented it from going to trial, calling the new filing the prosecution’s second attempt to bring the matter before a judge.
“DIICOT has now chosen to file a new indictment. We will examine every aspect of it with the same level of scrutiny and we will challenge any evidential, procedural or legal deficiencies through the appropriate judicial process,” Vidineac said. He reaffirmed that his clients continue to deny all accusations, and they are relying on their right to the presumption of innocence, full access to evidence against them, and a fair opportunity to mount a robust defense.
At this stage, it remains unclear whether DIICOT will move to request the brothers’ extradition from the United States to face charges in Romania. Before any trial can be scheduled, a Romanian judge must first conduct a full review of the new indictment to confirm its validity.