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Internet misogynist Andrew Tate has threatened to sue at least one of the women who accuse him of sex trafficking.
The woman’s US lawyers said she received a cease and desist letter from the controversial influencer in December, threatening to sue her and her family for $300m (£249m) for libel.
Andrew Tate, 36, along with his brother Tristan, 34, are currently in jail in Romania after being arrested in December as authorities investigate numerous allegations of sex trafficking and rape.
Women who worked for the brothers and denied they had been trafficked were brainwashed, a Romanian court recently found.
The brothers vehemently deny the claims and took legal action against two women in Romania last April, as legal experts say they are “trying to intimidate witnesses”.
Andrew Tate, 36, along with his brother Tristan, 34, are currently in jail in Romania after being arrested in December.
The brothers are accused of a series of crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, and are in preventive custody.
He BBC reported that the woman received a letter alleging that she had made ‘false and defamatory statements’ about the Tates.
‘In April 2022, you falsely stated to a third party that our Client [Andrew Tate] human trafficked you, abused you, and held you against your will.
“He has repeated false and defamatory statements to police, the media and another US citizen about the Tate brothers.”
Benjamin Bull, a lawyer working for the US National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said his client is a key witness in the prosecution against the controversial figures.
He added that the letter was written to try to force the women into hiding.
They want these young girls to go down a hole and hide, never come forward [or] describe what they saw and what happened to them.
“It’s clearly an effort to intimidate.”
Lawyers for the Tate brothers confirmed the letter was genuine but denied intimidation.
Tina Glandian, an adviser to the jailed influencers, said it was not unusual for the brothers to file defamation lawsuits.
The Tates appealed against an extension of their custody but lost and will remain in prison until at least February 27.
The brothers were arrested in a highly publicized raid on their £600,000 compound in Romania in late December.
They are in preventive custody while officials investigate the allegations against them.
The case is believed to be based on the testimony of six women, although no charges have yet been filed.
Despite sexual assault victims being granted anonymity, the names of witnesses against the brothers have been shared online and in statements by the Tate brothers.
Lawyers for some of the women say they have faced enormous levels of abuse online from Tate supporters, including death threats.
Attorney Tina Glandian, who represents the brothers, said it was normal for the brothers to file defamation lawsuits.
Dani Pinter, who works alongside Benjamin Bull, said the online videos were trying to ‘shame’ the women into not testifying.
‘Included in that is their private information, where they work, who their relatives are, with the clear intention of inciting harassment. And it’s working.
Two women who claimed they were voluntarily working for Andrew and Tristan Tate were “brainwashed”, a Romanian court has decided.
A report by a clinical psychologist said they were both traumatized and did not recognize that they were being exploited.
Romanian prosecutors considered the two women to be victims of the Tate brothers despite their claim that they voluntarily worked for the two men.
The magistrates took into account the clinical psychologist’s report and ruled that they did not speak knowingly and that they had been brainwashed through their exploitation.
Andrew Tate (centre) and Tristan Tate (back right) are escorted by police officers out of the Bucharest Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) headquarters in December
The pair are alleged to have ensnared women and made them work in adult entertainment chat rooms.
An ex-girlfriend of Andrew Tate has revealed that he strangled her to the point of passing out during “rough sex”.
The woman, known as Sophie to protect her identity, said Tate slapped her face and became violent during sex.
Sophie told the show that the couple met through Facebook and was initially taken with by him. After talking online for a while, she agreed to visit him at his house in Bucharest and soon became his girlfriend.
But she said he started asking her about working for his webcam business, telling her he would “make a fortune” if he did.
Despite saying no, Sophie said that he repeatedly told her, “If you love me, you would,” and this began to “get to her” over time to think that “maybe he’s right.”
She said she felt coerced and worried that if she refused, she might lose him.
She said she earned around £800 for six hours of work and Tate would keep half of her earnings.
Sophie said that over time, Tate became more controlling and would ‘fine’ her if she went out without his permission.
“There was a disagreement…he held me against the wall and slapped me really hard and followed up with ‘shit,'” she said.
She said he eventually turned violent, enjoying rough sex and strangling her to the point where she once passed out.
She described him as ‘very manipulative’, adding: ‘He totally lacks any kind of empathy. He’s a narcissist, he’s 100 percent like that.
“I don’t think he’s emotionally capable of feeling love, for anyone or anything, even his family, even his brother, there’s just nothing.”
But he added: “It’s very difficult because I don’t feel like a victim, all the decisions I made were my own. [own] Free will.
“He didn’t put me in a bag, he threw me in the back of a truck and took me there.”