BUCHAREST: Divisive social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, prosecutors in Romania said Tuesday.
Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers, who are both British-US dual citizens, along with two Romanian women.
In a statement, the agency said that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the United States and Britain. It alleged that seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence by the gang.
The Tate brothers and the two Romanian suspects were detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest. The brothers won an appeal on March 31 to be moved from police custody to house arrest.
Tate, 36, is a professional kickboxer with millions of Twitter followers. He has resided in Romania since 2017, and was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.
Prosecutors have ordered the confiscation of assets from the Tate brothers including 15 luxury cars, luxury watches and about $3 million they held in cryptocurrency, the agency’s statement said.
On Tuesday, Tate’s spokesperson Mateea Petrescu said the brothers were prepared to “demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation.”
“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” Petrescu said.
Andrew Tate faces charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania
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Andrew Tate faces charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania
- Prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers, who are both British-U.S. dual citizens, along with two Romanian women
- The defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the United States and Britain
Sri Lanka targets 3 million tourists to aid cyclone recovery
- The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is targeting 3 million tourist arrivals in 2026, a top official said on Monday, after a record 2.36 million last year, as the country seeks to boost revenue and support recovery from Cyclone Ditwah.
Famous for its pristine beaches, ancient temples and Ceylon Tea, tourism is Sri Lanka’s second-largest foreign exchange earner with $3.2 billion in revenues in 2025.
The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah, which hit the island nation at the end of November killing 645 people, said Vijitha Herath, minister of foreign affairs and tourism.
Torrential rains and hundreds of landslides damaged over 110,000 houses as well as key roads, railroads, and bridges causing $4.1 billion in damage according to World Bank estimates.
Growth, which was projected at 3.1 percent for 2026, was reduced to 2.9 percent by the International Monetary Fund in December. An IMF delegation is expected in Colombo this month to conduct the fifth review of a $2.9 billion program with Sri Lanka.
“We are proud that Sri Lanka still managed to record the highest-ever tourism numbers. We are hopeful that tourism revenue will also continue to grow and this will help our economy at a crucial time,” Herath told reporters.
Sri Lanka is also eyeing about $500 million in investment in the tourism sector in 2026 after attracting $329 million from 126 projects last year, said Buddhika Hewawasam, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
