FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — A judge says a controversial social media personality Andrew Tate ‘s defamation lawsuit against a Florida woman who accused him of imprison her in Romania may appear in court, but he dismissed Tate’s accusations against her parents and some of the accusations against the woman.
Palm Beach County Judge Joseph Curley has ruled that the 37-year-old former professional kickboxer and his 36-year-old brother Tristan can present their allegations to a jury. He alleges that the woman enlisted another woman in a plot to extort money from them in 2022.
The British-American brothers say the woman falsely accused them of human trafficking and rape, costing them their freedom and millions of dollars in income from their lucrative social media, podcasting and business ventures. Romanian officials charged the Tates last year, saying the brothers forced seven victims to watch pornography and subjected them to physical abuse.
Her lawyers say the lawsuit is retaliation for her reporting him to authorities. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were sexually abused.
Curley said in last week’s ruling, posted online to court records Tuesday, that the Tates’ attorneys presented enough probable cause evidence that the woman defamed their clients and attempted to defraud and extort them to justify a trial. He pointed to text messages the woman and her friend exchanged in April 2022 in which they say they would ask the Tates for $200,000 and “pretend we still love them and stuff.”
Curley also pointed to other text messages that could indicate the woman knew she was falsely accusing the Tates of sex trafficking and false imprisonment. No trial date has been set, and due to discovery and legal challenges, it could be years before one takes place.
Curley threw out parts of the lawsuit that accused the woman of false imprisonment for the Tates’ arrest, intentional infliction of emotional distress and interfering with their business relationships, leaving the door open for their attorneys to amend and refile those charges.
Curley rejected the Tates’ allegations that the woman’s parents defamed them when they told U.S. diplomatic officials about their daughter’s allegations. He said they had no reason to believe their daughter’s allegations were false and that they had a right to report them.
Attorneys for the Tates and the woman both said Curley’s decision was a victory for their side.
Tate’s attorney Joseph McBride said they are “very pleased with Judge Curley’s ruling” as the defamation charge directly relates to the “plot to destroy the lives of Andrew and Tristan Tate.” He said no decision has been made on whether to amend and refile the dismissed charges.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law, which represents the woman and her parents, called Curley’s ruling a “tremendous victory.”
“We are very pleased that the court has dismissed the majority of this frivolous lawsuit and sensibly limited the issues and claims,” attorney Dani Pinter said in a statement. “If the case proceeds, we look forward to the opportunity to prove the truth of what happened in Romania, and we are confident that we will ultimately succeed and that this difficult lawsuit will fail.”
Romanian investigators said in their indictment that the Tates and two Romanian women formed a criminal group in 2021 “to commit the crime of human trafficking” in that country, the United States and Britain. Prosecutors also seized the Tates’ assets, including 15 luxury cars, luxury watches and about $3 million in cryptocurrency.
Investigators say the seven accusers were recruited with false declarations of love, but then forced to participate in pornography. women were checked through “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt, officials said.
But the Tates paint a different picture in their lawsuit. They say the Florida woman and all the women living on their property were free to come and go as they pleased, and the closed-circuit television video can prove that.
Earlier this month, a Romanian judge lifted a year-long ban on the Tates leaving the country, but they were required to remain within the European Union until their trial.
“THE FAKE CASE IS FALLING APART,” wrote Andrew Tate on the social media platform X.
Andrew Tate has been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments, including saying women should be held accountable for sexual assault. But he remains popular on X, with nearly 10 million followers, many of them young men and schoolchildren. He runs an online academy where he says he teaches young men how to get rich and attract women.
Several women in Britain have also filed civil claims against Andrew Tate, alleging they were victims of sexual assault. British authorities have charged the Tates with criminal sexual assault. Details have not been released.
In a 2023 interview with the BBC, Andrew Tate denied spreading a culture of misogyny and accused him of manipulating women for financial gain.