BUCHAREST – Lawyers for four women have threatened controversial influencer Andrew Tate with a lawsuit in the English courts over allegations of sexual assault.

Former kick-boxer Tate – who is under house arrest in Romania after having been held over alleged human trafficking and rape – was served with legal papers by British law firm McCue Jury and Partners.

A statement from the law firm on Wednesday described the women’s allegations, “including violent rapes, serious physical assault, and controlling and coercive behaviour”.

It said the women had “put Tate on notice that, depending on his response, legal proceedings will be initiated against him at the High Court in London in the coming weeks”, the firm said.

The women, now in their late 20s and early 30s, say the offences took place between 2013 and 2016, when Tate, who is British and American, was based in the United Kingdom.

“Andrew Tate categorically denies the veracity of the accusations brought by the lawyers of the anonymous women in the UK,” a spokesman for Tate said in a statement.

Three of the women had filed criminal complaints that the UK authorities had decided to reject, the statement added.

“What new evidence could have appeared nine years later that would overturn the court’s decision?” the spokesman asked.

‘Pornographic acts’

Romanian police arrested Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, in late 2022.

A Romanian court placed them under house arrest at the end of March after three months of preventive detention on accusations of human trafficking and rape.

They deny all the accusations.

On Tuesday, prosecutors notified the brothers and two other suspects that they are now being investigated for “human trafficking in continued form”, a spokesman for Romania’s anti-organised crime prosecution unit told AFP.

This offence carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors are expected to send the case to court by the end of June, according to a source close to the investigation.

The brothers and the two Romanians also under investigation allegedly trafficked, recruited and exploited women by coercing them into “pornographic acts with a view to producing and disseminating such material” online.

In 2016, Tate appeared on the Big Brother reality TV show in Britain but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his divisive views. He has 6.9 million followers on Twitter.

Giving tips on how to be successful, along with misogynist and sometimes violent maxims, his videos have made him one of the world’s best-known influencers. AFP