Women who went to work for Andrew Tate in Romania were tattooed with the words ‘owned by Tate’, it has been claimed.
Tate, who his risen to notoriety in recent years for his attitude towards women, is alleged to have had some of those working for his online sex business branded.
The social media influencer is currently being held behind bars in the eastern European country while police investigate claims he was involved in the rape and human trafficking of women at his luxury villa.
The probe began after a 22-year-old woman told police she was held against her will last year and culminated in officers raiding his villa last month and taking him and younger brother, Tristan, into custody.
Andrew Tate is seen being escorted by police officers in Bucharest on December 29 after being arrested as part of a rape and human trafficking probe
Women working for Tate, who pictured here on a boat in an image shared on social media, are alleged to have been tattooed with the words ‘owned by Tate’
Police sources told the Times that the woman and other alleged victims were tattooed with the words ‘owned by Tate’.
Authorities in Romania allege the 36-year-old kept six women under ‘house arrest 24/7 like prisoners’ at his compound.
One judicial source previously told the Mail: ‘The abuse was physical and emotional. They were not allowed to leave the house without security and they were watched day and night.’
They added that the women were ‘deprived of their freedom and followed everywhere’.
It is claimed that Tate forced the women to create pornographic content against their will.
He was arrested with his brother Tristan, and their assistants Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu in Bucharest on December 29 on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.
Officers from the city’s anti-organised crime unit searched the property and took the quartet into custody.
A day later a Romanian judge gave police permission to keep Andrew Tate in custody for 30 days while the investigation continues.
Tate has denied all the allegations, with his representative Avocat Vidineac Eugen Constatin saying they would appeal the judge’s decision.
In a ruling released on Thursday, a judge said prosecutors had shown Tate has an ‘attitude of disregard towards women in general, which he only perceives as a means of obtaining large profits in an easy way’.
None of the four have been formally charged as of yet.
Tate (pictured on a private jet) allegedly recruited scores of women and held them under house arrest ‘like prisoners’ while forcing them to create online pornographic content
Prosecutors allege that Tate recruited the women on social media platforms and lured them to Bucharest by falsely professing his love and intention to marry them.
The tactics are known as the ‘lover boy’ method, which is used by criminals to recruit victims who are suffering from economic hardship by seducing them with gifts and promises of a better life abroad.
The six victims were forced to take part in videos on the adult content platform Only Fans and the video-sharing app TikTok, with the two brothers allegedly pocketing all the proceeds.
‘We have information – based on what they said on social media – that one of the girls brought in up to €50,000 (£44,350) a month,’ the source said. ‘They were given no money from what they earned.’
The women include one American, one Moldovan and four Romanian nationals.
Sebastian Vieru, who is a partner in some of Tate’s other businesses, has denied the allegations and said the sex business was ‘perfectly legal’ in Romania.
‘When you have 100 girls of your own, you do not have to force any woman to do anything,’ he said.
It was recently revealed that Tate had previously been investigated by police in the UK over allegations of rape and throttling.
He was a contestant on Channel 4’s Big Brother in 2016 when he was suddenly removed by producers after they became aware police were probing his online sex business.
Andrew Tate previously appeared on Big Brother in 2016, although he was pulled from the show after producers found out he was under investigation by the police
The Crown Prosecution Service eventually declined to press charges when the investigation concluded four years later, lea
The CPS told the Times: ‘We carefully reviewed all the evidence provided by the police… and concluded it did not meet our legal test.’
Tate said through his lawyer: ‘They [the alleged victims] wanted money because I fired them. The police understood after the investigation that I am innocent and the police found messages from the girls’ phones where they were… planning to lie about me.’
In recent years Tate has cultivated a devoted following on social media where brags about his well-to-do lifestyle. He also runs the ‘Hustler’s Academy’ where 127,000 mostly men pay him £39 a month for tips on getting rich and dealing with life.
The former kickboxer has previously said he moved to Romania with his brother because they believed they would receive less attention from the police.
In many videos he rails against women and gives his own unique brand of advice to men on how to behave around them.
He previously courted controversy for saying ‘If your girlfriend acts up, f*** her friends… if she even talks to a dude – she’s cheating’.
Shortly before his arrested he was involved in a Twitter spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg, where he bragged about his collection of sports cars.
She responded by suggesting that Tate had ‘small dick energy’ and should ‘get a life’, prompting a bizarre video in which he asked for a pizza box that was ‘not recycled’.
When he was arrested less than a day later, Thunberg hit back by tweeting: ‘This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes’.
DailyMail
