Andrew Tate ‘raped and strangled us’

Two women who say they were raped and strangled by controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate have spoken to the BBC about their experiences.

Another woman has come forward to allege for the first time that she was raped by Mr Tate’s brother, Tristan – who is also an influencer with millions of followers.

The Tate brothers, aged 37 and 36, are now facing charges of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate has also been charged with rape.

If convicted, the two men could face more than 10 years in prison. They have strenuously denied the charges against them.

Warning: Contains distressing content and descriptions of sexual violence

Andrew Tate, is currently under house arrest in Romania. In addition to the charges he faces, Prosecutors are considering new charges against him.including sex with minors and trafficking in minors. The brothers are also being investigated for trafficking 34 additional women.

Now, two British women, unrelated to the Romanian case against the Tate brothers, have given the BBC detailed first-hand accounts of alleged rape and sexual violence against Andrew Tate. The allegations date back at least 10 years, when Mr Tate was living in Luton.

Another British woman has made new rape allegations against Tristan Tate, saying he strangled her with his hands while doing so.

Anna (not her real name) told us she went on a date with Andrew Tate in Luton in 2013. After a few dates, she went back to his house.

“He started kissing me… and he just looked up at the ceiling and said, ‘I’m just trying to decide whether or not to rape you.’ Suddenly he grabbed me by the neck, slammed me against the back of the bed, and choked me really hard.”

Anna said that he then raped her.

She said that after the attack, Mr Tate sent her disturbing text messages and audio recordings about rape and sexual violence.

“Am I a bad person? Because the more you dislike me, the more I like you,” he said in a voice note.

In one message, he wrote: “I enjoy raping you.”

Anna said he also tried to explain the strangulation scene as a joke: “You really feel offended when I strangle you a little?”

When asked by the BBC about the messages, Mr Tate declined to comment.

In 2014, Anna reported the alleged attack to Bedfordshire Police. Two other women made similar allegations and the police began an investigation.

In 2019, a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, but it decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

Another woman, whom we’ll call Sienna, told a similar story.

She said she first met Andrew Tate a decade ago in Luton: “We got on really well and had a few drinks together.”

She said they had what she described as “a standard night of sex”.

A few months later, Sienna said she saw Mr. Tate again.

She claims that this time he attacked her.

“We went into my bedroom… and we started having sex,” she said. “That’s when he put his arms around my neck.”

Sienna said she struggled to breathe and then passed out. When she regained consciousness, she said he was still having sex with her.

“I was really scared,” she said. “I just remember gasping… It was rape.”

In the morning, she said her eyes were red.

“One of the whites of my eyes suddenly turned red — apparently a fairly common occurrence in domestic violence cases involving strangulation.”

A friend of Sienna’s confirmed to the BBC that she told him about the incident at the time. He also said he saw the injury to her eye.

Sienna did not go to the police and said she regretted it.

BBC Panorama understands that a total of five women in the UK have said they were choked by Mr Tate during sex.

When we interviewed him last June, he denied ever choking or having sex with a woman without her consent.

“I know I have never hurt anyone. Hurting others is not in my nature,” he said.

In the latter half of the last decade, Andrew Tate began to gain popularity online.

The self-proclaimed misogynist’s YouTube and TikTok videos and Twitter posts have helped him gain millions of followers and become a global celebrity.

He preached a message aimed at boys and young men that women should be dominant.

In one video, he said women were “by nature lazy” and added: “There’s no way you can stick to reality without being sexist.”

Overview – Andrew Tate: Accused

Oana Marocico returns home to investigate Andrew and Tristan Tate’s webcam business in Romania and speaks to women who claim they were abused by the brothers.

Watch on Monday 9 September on BBC One at 20:00 BST (20:30 in Wales) or on BBC iPlayer (UK only) from 20:00 BST

Mr Tate has been named by the British authorities. for his impact in spreading misogyny online.

His videos also show the lavish lifestyle he claims to be living in Romania.

Andrew and Tristan Tate are believed to have moved to the area around 2016.

They ran a webcam business in Luton – where women chatted and stripped online to make money.

Romania has one of the largest webcam industries in the world, with more than half a million employees. The brothers’ move there appears to have helped the business take off.

At one point, Andrew Tate claimed he was earning £400,000 a month from webcamming and that “75 women worked for him at the height of his career”.

However, in an interview with the BBC last year, he downplayed the significance of these boasts, claiming they were exaggerations and lies.

The adult entertainment business is at the heart of criminal case was brought against them in Romania.

Prosecutors allege the brothers trafficked women into the country – in other words, recruited them, arranged their transport and provided them with accommodation in Bucharest for the purposes of exploitation. Two of the women named in the case were brought to Romania from the UK.

Another British woman, not involved in any legal proceedings, told Panorama about her experience working for Tates. This is the first time she has spoken publicly.

Daisy (not her real name) said she was dating Tristan Tate in the UK in 2017, when he encouraged her to work for the brothers’ webcam business in Bucharest. We’ve seen evidence that Tristan booked her flight to Bucharest.

Daisy voluntarily, knowingly, and acquiesced in the webcam business. She described a controlled environment where she and other webcammers lived and worked together.

“The girls have their own rooms, but it’s not their personal space. Everything belongs to Tristan and Andrew, and the bedroom where the girls work is also the bedroom where the brothers sleep.”

Daisy said there were strict rules for all women and almost every aspect of their lives was monitored.

A Romanian webcam model also spoke to us and the description was similar.

“Raluca” said she was listed on Tates’ books in 2021. She claimed that “control and manipulation” played a major role in their business model.

Most of the models who worked for Tates “dated them,” according to Raluca, adding that some of them were women brought in from England.

Romanian prosecutors said they had testimonies from three women who described feeling “controlled” by the brothers. In the case file, some of the women said they were not allowed to leave their homes “alone”.

When Andrew Tate spoke to the BBC last year, he denied such allegations, claiming the women worked for themselves. He said his role was simply to “help them find a cameraman”.

Days after arriving in Romania, Daisy said she broke up with Tristan Tate, but she insisted that didn’t stop him from trying to have sex with her.

“I told him ‘no’ 10 to 15 times that I didn’t want to do it.”

She said he strangled her and raped her.

Daisy has yet to report her allegations to the police.

The BBC spoke to one of her friends who said that after Daisy returned to the UK she became very upset and told him that Tristan Tate had sexually assaulted her.

We asked Tristan Tate about all the allegations against him – he had no comment.

The Tates family’s legal troubles have worsened this year.

As well as the existing charges in Romania and the new investigation announced last month, they face a number of legal threats elsewhere.

In England, Bedfordshire Police have begun extradition proceedings against both brothers. of rape and human trafficking allegations, dating from 2012-2015. None of these allegations involved the women we spoke to.

And in a civil case brought by Devon and Cornwall Police, a judge is expected to rule next month on whether Tates owe millions of dollars in unpaid taxes on their online businesses.

Sienna and Anna are now suing Andrew Tate, and their case is set to go to trial at the High Court in London. Along with two other women, they are accusing him of rape and sexual assault. He intends to contest the claims.

We asked Mr Tate about all the latest allegations – he declined to comment.

Last year, he told us: “I look forward to the truth coming out. I look forward to the truth being published across the BBC that Andrew Tate has been cleared because I have never done anything wrong.”

If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, you can contact BBC Action Line