Prosecutors in Romania said on Tuesday that Andrew Tate, his brother and two other suspects are currently being investigated on more serious charges than the charges originally brought against them.
The public prosecutor said that the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer is currently being investigated for continued human trafficking. His brother Tristan and two Romanian suspects are also under investigation for the same crime, which is seen as a more serious offense than the human trafficking charges initially brought against them, said a spokesman for Romania’s DIICOT organized crime law enforcement unit.
A new victim has also been added to the case, which originally began with six women, the spokesman added.
All suspects deny the allegations made against them, including rape and forming a criminal organization to exploit women. The four were arrested in Bucharest in December and held in detention until March 31. They have since been released under house arrest pending an investigation into their alleged wrongdoing.
The case has not yet gone to trial, but prosecutors are expected to bring them to trial later in June.
Lawyers representing the Tate brothers said Tuesday’s changes to the charges were in the “legal interest” of the suspects. “The legal framework has been revised and amended to ensure an impartial investigation is maintained,” the brothers’ legal team said in a statement, according to Portal.
DIICOT prosecutors also announced on Tuesday the opening of a separate criminal investigation into a Romanian man, Vlad Obuzic, also on charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal organization to sexually exploit seven women.
Obuzic, who is close to the Tate brothers and can be seen alongside the couple in photos he posted to his social media channels, has been accused by prosecutors along with two others of exploiting women by pretending to be with wanting to have a relationship with them.
The alleged victims would then be forced to film porn, and prosecutors said the suspects would pocket the resulting profits. “To ensure the victims’ loyalty and to ensure that they behave only for the benefit of the members of the group, they have been forced to have the name or face of the group member who is exploiting them tattooed,” the statement said Public prosecutor.
Tate, a 36-year-old British-American former kickboxing champion, has 6.8 million followers on Twitter. On Tuesday he has told His fans said the charges against him were “restructured in a way that has helped me tremendously because they have no evidence.” “They had to do this to charge me with such a weak record,” he claimed. “You can’t give it up now, can you? Imagine the uproar.”
Last week, a British woman told the BBC that Tate choked her into unconsciousness during consensual sex in 2014 without her consent and that he later threatened to kill her. He denied the woman’s allegations.