united states

• Andrew Tate has threatened legal action against at least one of the women who have accused him of rape and human trafficking.
• The letter threatened the woman and her parents with a $300 million lawsuit.
• The Tates’ lawyer stated that they were pursuing viable slander allegations.

Andrew Tate, a controversial influencer, has threatened legal action against at least one of the women who have accused him of rape and human trafficking.

According to the woman’s lawyers in the United States, a “cease-and-desist” letter was sent in December by a US law firm on behalf of Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan.

The letter threatened the woman and her parents with a $300 million (£249 million) lawsuit if she did not retract her claims.

The Tates’ lawyer stated that they were pursuing viable slander allegations.

The sources have seen a redacted copy of the letter, which was presumably sent on the brothers’ behalf.

“In April 2022,” it reads, “you falsely stated to a third party that our Client human trafficked you, abused you and held you against your will […] You have repeated false and defamatory statements to the police, the media, and another United States citizen about the Tate brothers.”

Andrew and Tristan Tate are currently being held in Romania in preventative detention as police investigate claims of human trafficking and rape, which both men deny.

Benjamin Bull – who works for the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation – says his client is a key witness in the Romanian investigation, and that the letter was designed to do “one thing and one thing only”:

“[It] was intended to shut down the witness; stop the witness from bringing testimony forward in any proceedings,” he said.

“They want these young ladies to climb into a hole and hide, never come forward [or] describe what they saw and what happened to them. It’s clearly an effort to intimidate.”

Attorneys for the Tates confirmed to the BBC that the cease-and-desist letter was delivered in December, as part of a civil case in the United States for defamation and slander, but denied any intimidation.

Tina Glandian, one of their legal advisors, said there was nothing abnormal in them pursuing valid legal claims for defamation. “The fact that [the Tates] are incarcerated right now is not a basis for them not to pursue their legal rights,” she said.

The inquiry into rape and human trafficking claims is thought to be based in part on the testimony of six women. No charges have yet been filed.

According to the Tates’ legal team, the brothers filed criminal accusations in Romania last April against two women, including the witness.

Ms Glandian stated that the criminal complaints were filed in April in response to suspicions that the Tate brothers were holding two women against their will.

“There was no evidence whatsoever of that,” she said, “which is why [the Tates] was not arrested in April. [At that time], they were nothing but victims of false allegations, and they had every right to file criminal complaints for having their homes raided [and] property seized.”

According to her, the outcomes of those criminal complaints are still pending.

Benjamin Bull, who represents some of the witnesses in the ongoing Tate inquiry, said the legal action has been upsetting and threatening for his clients.

Nevertheless, Dani Pinter, a member of the same legal team, claims that it is not simply the possibility of legal action that is scary, but also the online harassment that many of her clients face as a result of speaking out.

“Regular, high production value videos, meant to embarrass and harass them, are shared among Tate’s followers,” she told me.

“Making really salacious claims, attempting to slut shame them, saying they’re liars. But included in that is their private information – where they work, who their family members are – with the clear intention to incite harassment. And it’s working.”

She claims that the two alleged victims she represents have received death threats.

“They’re scared to death. They’re both in hiding. They feel they can’t settle anywhere, because people are trying to find them.”

Prosecutors have taken great efforts to keep the identities of the six women in their case private. Nonetheless, some people’s full names have been released on social media.

The identities of two witnesses were even mentioned in a source’s statement from the Tates’ US relations staff. They are not being named publicly by the sources.

While in detention, Andrew Tate and his brother do not have access to their social media accounts, but they have amassed a large and devoted online following.

Several accounts appear to be fully-staffed operations, distributing videos and papers on a daily basis in order to undercut the testimonies of witnesses and other women bringing charges against the Tates.

One of the more active accounts tweeted the entire identity, social media handles, and WhatsApp chats of one of the accused victims in the probe earlier this week.

The sources has reached out to the account for comment but has yet to receive a response.

Even those who barely scratch the surface of this subject may become a target.

Daria Gusa told sources and others that when she was 16, she received a private message from Andrew Tate’s Instagram account. It followed the same structure as his online presentations on how to get a woman’s attention and influence her.

She did not accuse him of any wrongdoing.

“I got a bunch of messages,” she told me. “Most were from people saying I was lying or calling me a slut.”

But she also received “10 to 15 threats” online.

“I had a guy texting me, telling me ‘I know you’re studying at this university, the schedule is published online, I know where you are'” Daria said.

Several of her friends, who also appear to have had contact with him, have refused to speak out about their experiences, she says.

“It’s not just the people who work for him,” she explained. “It’s that there are basically millions of men out there who really idolise these people, and would do anything to protect them and their image, so I think it’s completely justifiable that so many girls don’t want to speak out.”

It is not clear exactly who runs some of the most active accounts defending the Tates, or how much cooperation exists between them.

But the risks for women making public allegations against Andrew Tate can be high, and they can come from many directions.

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