Social media influencer Andrew Tate, who is under house arrest in Romania while being investigated for human trafficking, is now being accused of rape by three unnamed women who are also considering suing the former kickboxing champion.
For years, Tate has run an online business featuring webcam girls, performers paid by private viewers to enact sexually explicit acts. According to Tate, he had as many as 70 people working for him at one time, many of whom were women featured on the webcam business that Tate’s fortunes relied upon.
Sky News reports that three of those women are now coming forward saying they were raped and abused by Tate beginning in 2013.
The lawyer for the three women, Matt Jury, issued a statement explaining, “Their allegations include rape, sexual and physical assaults, including holding guns to women’s heads, strangulations including with belts, allegation of the most awful behavior towards women.”
The women also claim that they were threatened by Tate not to go to the police, but that didn’t stop them. They reported the rape allegations in 2015 to police in Hartfordshire, just north of London, where Tate was living and operating the business at the time. On three different occasions, Tate was arrested but ultimately let go, and he never faced charges.
It’s worth noting that police in Hartfordshire have been under serious scrutiny in recent months, due to Metropolitan police officer David Carrick, an area resident, pleading guilty to 24 counts of rape, and another Hartfordshire police officer, James Ford, being convicted of raping a child.
In regards to the three women whose allegations against Tate were apparently not taken seriously, attorney Jury said, “The police didn’t take effective action. The evidence was there.”
One of the women stated, “After first meeting Andrew, my life was impacted negatively from the daily mental manipulation and physical abuse that I endured every single day. I now suffer with depression, anxiety, stress, and have been diagnosed with PTSD.”
The women also expressed their shock at witnessing seeing Tate’s explosion in popularity over the last year.
For a civil suit to be brought against Tate, the women said they need to raise money for legal expenses, and will attempt to do so through crowdfunding. However, whether or not they bring a civil suit, the women expressed hope that the Hartfordshire police would be motivated to re-open a criminal investigation against Andrew Tate, evidence for which their current legal spokesperson claims is “sufficient to warrant proper criminal intent investigation and, in our opinion, for charges to be brought.”
Hartfordshire police responded that the evidence they reviewed at the time it was brought included nothing that they felt could lead to a successful criminal prosecution. However, they also said they would be willing to meet with the women again to further discuss the investigation.
