What is Andrew Tate charged with? Why social media influencer has been indicted in Romania

British social media influencer Andrew Tate has been sent to trial by Romanian prosecutors on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

He was charged along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian female suspects.

What has Andrew Tate been charged with?

The Tate brothers, who have dual British-US nationality, and two Romanian women are under house arrest amid a criminal investigation for alleged abuses committed against seven women, accusations they have denied.

Andrew has also been charged with raping one of the victims, while Tristan has been charged with instigating others to violence.

Prosecutors allege they recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage.

Tate’s spokesperson Mateea Petrescu said the brothers were prepared to “demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation”.

The influencer recently claimed in a BBC News interview that the legal case against him had been “utterly fabricated”.

The suspects were held in police custody from 29 December until 31 March before a Bucharest court put them under house arrest.

Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors have ordered the confiscation of assets from the Tate brothers including 15 luxury cars, luxury watches and about $3m they held in cryptocurrency.

Who is Andrew Tate?

Tate, 36, is a professional kickboxer with millions of online followers. He found fame on Big Brother in 2016, but was removed from the show after a video emerged that appeared to show him attacking a woman. At the time he said the video had been edited and called it “a total lie trying to make me look bad”.

Tate went on to style himself as a “success coach” and ran Hustler’s University, an online “education and coaching” programme.

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He has resided in Romania since 2017, and was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are among the platforms that have banned Tate. However, he still manages to wield significant influence, particularly over certain groups of young men and schoolboys, prompting concern from charities.

UK charity Hope Not Hate campaigned for social media platforms to remove Tate’s content last year, saying it “attempts to normalise extreme misogyny and conspiracy theory”.

It added: “Here in the UK, it is not an exaggeration to say that many young students returning to school at the end of the summer holidays will have seen something produced by Andrew Tate.

“The effect that Tate’s brand of vitriolic misogyny can have on the young male audience is deeply concerning. His content is widely celebrated by his fans for having brought back ‘traditional masculinity’.

“However, we also know that misogyny can be a gateway to other extreme and discriminatory views, and there is a serious danger that some people, sucked in by his sexist content, will align with his wider far-right politics.”