Two women who insisted they worked being for Andrew Tate were brainwashed, Romanian judges rule

Two young women who denied being trafficked by Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan did not understand they were enslaved because they had been brainwashed, a Romanian court has ruled.

The two women claimed they volunteered for Andrew and Tristan Tate, but a report prepared by a clinical psychologist said they were both traumatized and did not recognize they were being exploited.

Andrew Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, were arrested in December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group to exploit women.

The brothers and their alleged accomplices – apart from the two described in the clinical psychologist’s report – appeared yesterday in the Bucharest court, where their appeal against the judge’s decision to extend their arrest for a second time was rejected.

The clinical psychologist’s assessment was described as out-of-court evidence, but judges at the Bucharest Court of Appeal took the report on yesterday’s decision into consideration.

Andrew Tate arrives handcuffed and escorted by police to a court in Bucharest on February 1, 2023.

One of the two women was originally from the US and had been lured to Romania by Tristan Tate, the court heard.

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.

The court said this was due to the brothers’ recruitment process to make their alleged victims “fall in love” with them, where they falsely claimed to want a relationship or marriage.

The Romanian court ruled: “Although the name [woman one] Y [woman two]both in the statements rendered before the criminal investigation bodies, as witnesses, and through the legitimized statements rendered before a notary and provided by the defense to the file, denied any form of exploitation by the four defendants, the collegiate court of rights y libertades appreciates that these statements do not reflect reality.

‘It is known that, in the case of the ‘lover boy’ or ‘for falling in love’ recruitment method, victims of human trafficking do not always recognize that they were enslaved and exploited and do not cooperate with judicial bodies, attesting to the idea that these activities were carried out voluntarily.’

As Tate was escorted from the Bucharest Court of Appeals yesterday with his brother as well as the alleged accomplices, he shouted at journalists: ‘You will find out the truth of this case soon’, February 1, 2023

Former kickboxer Andrew Tate (left) and his brother Tristan (second right) leave court with police cars after their trial in Bucharest, Romania on February 1, 2023.

The Tate brothers and their alleged accomplices, Georgiana Naghel and Launa Radu, continue to deny any wrongdoing.

As Tate was escorted from the Bucharest Court of Appeal yesterday with his brother as well as the alleged female accomplices, he yelled at reporters: “You will find out the truth of this case soon.”

The self-proclaimed misogynist insisted there was “no evidence” that he exploited girls and forced them to create pornographic content on webcams.

“Ask them for evidence and they won’t give it to you because it doesn’t exist,” Tate yelled as he was escorted from court to a police van. Soon you will discover the truth of this case.

Following the court’s decision yesterday, the four will remain in custody until February 27.

Romanian prosecutors said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming they wanted a relationship or marriage.

The victims were then taken to properties on the outskirts of the capital Bucharest and forced to produce pornographic content for social media sites that generated large financial gains, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors can now ask the courts to extend the detention of suspects up to 180 days.

Following the court’s decision yesterday, the four will remain in custody until February 27.

Andrew Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, were arrested in December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group to exploit women.

The two Tate brothers moved into a converted warehouse in Romania in 2017, which was surrounded by armed guards.

At the safe house on the outskirts of Bucharest, the Tate brothers had a video chat studio where several women were found during a police raid in April 2022.

Prosecutors allege that the brothers lured the women into the studio where they were sexually exploited through “acts of physical violence and mental coercion (through intimidation, constant supervision, control and invocation of alleged debts)”, and forced them to produce and share pornographic material. .

Andrew Tate is also accused of raping a Moldovan woman, who he alleges followed him from London, in March 2022, which he categorically denies.